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CHECKING  THE  WASTE 


Checking  the  Waste 


A  STUDY  IN  CONSERVATION 

/^  By 

MARY  HUSTON  GREGORY 


r^// 


What  you  nuould  lueave  into  the  life  oj  the  nation^ 
put  into  the  public  schools. 

— Emperor  William  I. 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright  1911 
The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 


PRESS  OF 

BRAUNWORTH  <t  CO. 

BOOKBINDERS  AND  PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I   What  Is  Conservation  ?     ,       ,       ,       .       •  x 

II   Soil lO 

III  Forests  , 42 

IV  Water 86 

V   Coal 124 

VI  Other  Fuels         ....••.  144 

VII   Iron 164 

VIII    Other  Minerals   .......  181 

IX   Animal  Foods 198 

X   Insects 217 

XI    Birds 236 

XII    Health ,        .  265 

XIII  Beauty  ...•••••.  302 

XIV  In  Conclusion 312 


PREFACE 


Much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  subject  of  conserva- 
tion and  many  excellent  ideas  have  been  advanced,  but  as  yet 
too  little  has  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  practical  results. 
Probably  this  is  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  most  people  think 
of  conservation  as  a  problem  for  the  federal  and  state  govern- 
ments, mine  owners,  great  lumber  companies,  owners  of  vast 
tracts  of  land,  and  large  corporations;  and  have  not  realized 
how  much  the  responsibility  for  the  care  of  our  natural  re- 
sources and  the  penalty  for  their  waste  rest  with  the  whole 
people,  that  every  one  has  a  part  in  this  work  which  has  been 
called  "the  greatest  question  before  the  American  people." 

One  cause  of  the  failure  to  realize  this  personal  responsi- 
bility is  that  while  there  have  been  college  text-books  and  sci- 
entific treatises  on  various  branches  of  the  subject,  such  asi 
Forestry,  there  has  been  no  book  treating  of  the  entire  prob- 
lem of  our  natural  resources,  their  extent,  the  amount  and  na- 
ture of  their  use,  their  waste,  and  what  may  be  done  to  con- 
serve them,  prepared  in  a  way  that  can  be  readily  understood 
by  the  ordinary  reader,  and  dealing  with  the  practical,  rather 
than  the  technical,  side. 

It  is  to  supply  the  need  for  such  general  knowledge,  and  to 
show  how  such  saving  may  be  accomplished,  that  this  book 
has  been  written.  It  is  designed  as  a  short  but  complete  state- 
ment of  the  entire  conservation  question,  and  should  be  of 
service  for  study  in  teachers'  reading  circles,  farmers'  insti- 
tutes, women's  clubs,  the  advanced  grades  in  schools,  and  for 
general  library  purposes. 

Every  statement  of  fact  bears  the  weight  of  authority,  for 
no  facts  or  figures  are  given  that  have  not  been  verified  by 
government  reports,  reports  of  scientific  societies,  etc. 

Information  has  been  gathered  from  many  sources,  chief 
among  them  being  the  Report  of  the  Conference  of  Governors 
at  the  White  House,  in  May,  1908;  the  Report  of  the  National 
Conservation  Commission,  the  Report  on  National  Vitality,  the 
Report  of  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission,  of  the  Geolog- 
ical Survey,  the  Census  Reports,  and  many  government  de- 
partmental pamphlets.  M.  H.  G. 

Indianapolis,  November  24,  1910. 


CHECKING  THE  WASTE 


CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

CHAPTER  I 

WHAT  IS  CONSERVATION  ? 

A  nation's  riches  lie  both  in  its  people  and  in 
its  natural  resources.  Neither  can  exist  in  its 
highest  estate  without  the  other.  Goldsmith  pre- 
dicted the  certain  downfall  of  lands  "  where  wealth 
accumulates  and  men  decay,"  but,  in  the  truest, 
broadest  definition,  there  can  be  no  national  wealth 
unless  the  men  and  women  of  the  nation  are  healthy, 
intelligent,  educated  and  right-minded.  On  the 
other  hand  it  is  equally  true  that  if  the  people  of  a 
country  are  to  make  the  most  of  themselves  in 
mind  and  body;  if  they  are  to  get  the  most  com- 
fort and  happiness  out  of  life  and  to  become  in  the 
highest  degree  useful,  they  must  develop  its  natural 
resources  to  the  greatest  possible  degree. 

The  United  States  is  particularly  fortunate  in 
its  abundant  riches  of  soil,  forest  and  mine,  and  in 
the  fact  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  nation  these 
have  been  the  inheritance  not  of  a  people  slowly 
learning  the  use  of  tools  and  materials,  and  emerg- 

I 


2  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

ing  from  ignorance  and  savagery,  but  representing 
the  most  advanced  and  enlightened  ideas  and  spir- 
itual ideals  of  the  time. 

The  result  of  these  conditions  has  been  inven- 
tions and  discoveries  that  have  developed  a  great 
nation  at  home  and  have  done  much  to  better  the 
condition  of  the  world.  But  the  very  magnitude 
of  our  natural  wealth  has  made  us  careless,  even 
prodigal,  in  its  use,  and  thoughtful  men  are  be- 
ginning to  realize  that  with  the  natural  increase  of 
population  which  is  to  be  expected,  we  shall,  if  the 
present  rates  of  use  and  waste  continue,  find  our- 
selves no  longer  rich,  but  facing  poverty  and  even 
actual  want.  But  it  is  not  too  late  to  save  our- 
selves from  the  results  of  our  past  extravagance. 
We  are  only  beginning  to  see  the  danger  into  which 
we  have  almost  plunged,  but  we  see  enough  to 
make  us  realize  that  every  one  must  do  his  part  in 
checking  the  waste.  Before  this  can  be  intelli- 
gently accomplished  we  must  understand  something 
of  the  great  national  movement  for  the  conserva- 
tion of  our  national  resources. 

Let  us  go  back  for  a  moment  to  the  beginning 
of  our  history  as  a  nation,  the  days  of  Washington. 

Invention  at  that  time  was  little  advanced  over 
what  it  had  been  three  hundred  years  before.  The 
same  type  of  slow-sailing  vessels  carried  all  the 
commerce.     Wind  and  water  were  the  only  powers 


WHAT  IS  CONSERVATION?  3 

employed  in  running  the  few  factories.  Only  a 
little  iron  was  used  in  this  country,  and  in  fact 
almost  its  only  use  anywhere  at  that  time  was  for 
tools.  There  was  little  machinery,  and  that  of  the 
simplest  description. 

Anthracite  coal  was  known  in  this  country  only 
as  a  hard  black  rock.  Bituminous  coal,  gas,  and 
oil  were  unknown. 

The  forests  stretched  away  in  unbroken  miles  of 
wilderness.  The  wood  was  used  for  the  settlers' 
homes,  their  fuel,  and  their  scanty  furniture,  but 
they  needed  so  little  tha^  it  grew  much  faster  than 
it  could  be  used.  The  man  who  cut  down  a  tree 
was  a  public  benefactor.  The  trees,  though  so 
necessary  to  life,  were  regarded  as  a  serious  hin- 
drance to  civilization,  for  they  must  be  cleared 
away  before  crops  could  be  planted. 

To  the  pioneers  as  to  us  the  soil  was  the  most 
valuable  of  all  resources.  The  rivers  were  neces- 
sary to  every  community  for  carrying  their  com- 
merce, and  turning  the  wheels  of  their  saw  and 
grist  mills;  while  the  fish,  game,  and  birds  made  a 
necessary  part  of  their  living. 

Under  these  conditions,  with  every  resource  to  be 
found  in  such  abundance  that  it  seemed  impossible 
it  could  ever  be  exhausted,  and  with  a  small  scat- 
tered population  to  draw  on  all  these  riches,  care- 
less habits  of  using  were  sure  to  spring  up.     Our 


4  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

forefathers  took  the  best  that  the  land  offered,  and 
that  which  was  easiest  to  get,  and  gave  no  thought 
to  caring  for  what  remained.  Their  children,  and 
the  new  immigrants  who  came  in  such  numbers,  all 
practised  the  same  wasteful  methods. 

In  the  century  and  a  quarter  that  has  passed 
since  then,  a  great  change  has  come  over  the  world. 
By  the  magic  of  the  railroad,  the  telegraph,  and  the 
telephone,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  bound 
more  closely  to  one  another  now  than  were  the  scat- 
tered communities  of  a  single  county  in  those  days, 
or  than  the  states  of  the  Union  before  the  Civil 
War. 

The  forests  have  been  cut  away  and  in  place  of 
endless  miles  of  wilderness  there  now  stretch  endless 
miles  of  fertile  farms,  yielding  abundant  harvests. 

Slow-going  sailing  vessels  have  given  place  to 
steamboats  which  now  carry  the  river  and  lake  com- 
merce. But  men  are  no  longer  dependent  on  the 
rivers,  for  swift  railway  trains  penetrate  every  part 
of  the  country.  The  stage-coach  is  replaced  by  the 
trolley-car,  and  the  horseback  rider,  plodding  over 
corduroy  roads  with  his  saddle-bags,  is  succeeded 
by  the  automobile  rider  speeding  over  the  most  im- 
proved highways. 

Farm  machinery  of  all  descriptions  has  revolution- 
ized the  old  methods  of  doing  farm  work.  The 
fish,  game,  and  birds  are  largely  gone  and  in  their 


WHAT  IS  CONSERVATION?  5 

place  are  the  animal  foods  raised  by  man.  Modern 
houses,  filled  with  countless  devices  for  labor-saving 
and  comfort,  have  replaced  the  simple  homes  of 
colonial  days. 

What  has  brought  about  this  change?  The 
energy  and  industry  of  American  men  and  women, 
aided  for  the  most  part  by  American  inventions, 
and  made  possible  by  the  wonderful  natural  re- 
sources of  America. 

No  one  could  wish  to  have  had  our  country's 
development  checked  in  any  way.  These  great  re- 
sults could  be  obtained  only  by  using  the  materials 
that  could  be  had  easiest  and  cheapest,  even  if  it 
meant  great  waste  in  the  beginning.  Labor  was 
scarce  and  high  in  this  country,  abundant  and  cheap 
in  Europe.  In  order  to  make  goods  that  could  be 
sold  at  prices  even  above  those  of  European  coun- 
tries, it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  cheap 
lumber,  coal  and  iron. 

But  the  time  has  come  when  we  can  no  longer 
continue  this  waste  without  interfering  with  future 
development.  Some  of  the  resources  have  been 
so  exhausted  that  a  few  years  will  see  the  end  of 
their  use  in  large  commercial  quantities.  Others, 
such  as  coal  and  iron,  will  last  much  longer,  but 
when  they  are  gone  they  can  never  be  replaced; 
and  so  far  as  we  can  now  foresee,  the  country  will 
cease  to  prosper  when  they  can  no  longer  be  had 


6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

for  use  in  manufacturing.  The  length  of  time 
they  will  last  at  the  present  rate  of  use  can  be 
easily  calculated.  It  is  a  long  time  for  us  to  look 
forward,  for  it  is  longer  than  the  lifetime  of  any 
man  now  living,  or  of  his  children,  but  it  is  within 
the  life  of  his  grandchildren,  and  that  is  a  very 
short  time  in  the  history  of  a  nation. 

It  may  be  said  that  w^ile  other  nations  have 
passed  into  decay,  none  has  ever  exhausted  its  re- 
sources so  early  in  its  history,  and  surely  this  great 
rich  nation  can  not  so  soon  face  actual  need.  But 
we  must  remember  that  no  other  nation  has  ever 
used  its  resources  as  we  have  used  ours.  We  are 
using  in  years  what  other  nations  have  used  in 
centuries. 

It  is  not  possible  now,  it  probably  never  will  be 
possible,  to  use  every  particle  of  a  resource.  This 
would  be  too  expensive,  would  mean  a  labor  cost 
far  beyond  the  value  of  the  thing  saved. 

In  the  beginning,  as  we  have  shown,  the  vast 
wastes  were  not  wanton,  but  absolutely  necessary, 
and  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  point  where  we  can 
afford  to  use  the  low-grade  ores,  to  use  all  lumber 
waste  and  to  practise  many  other  economies  that 
may  sometime  become  necessary.  But  in  the  case 
of  the  forests  we  should  provide  enough  trees  for 
use  in  coming  years,  and  in  the  case  of  all  minerals, 


WHAT  IS  CONSERVATION?  7 

the  refuse  should  be  left  in  such  condition  that  it 
can  easily  be  ready  for  possible  future  use. 

If  conservation  meant  leaving  our  resources  un- 
touched, and  checking  development  in  order  that 
there  might  be  an  abundance  for  future  genera- 
tions, it  would  be  both  an  unwise  and  unacceptable 
policy;  but  it  must  be  thoroughly  understood  that 
this  is  not  what  is  desired. 

Conservation  does  not  mean  the  locking  up  of 
our  resources,  nor  a  hindrance  to  real  progress  in 
any  direction.     It  means  only  wise,  careful  use. 

It  does  not  mean  that  we  shall  cease  to  cut  our 
timber,  but  it  does  mean  that  we  shall  not  waste 
two-thirds  of  all  that  is  cut,  as  we  are  doing  at 
present.  It  means,  too,  that  we  shall  take  better 
care  of  articles  manufactured  from  it,  and  most  of 
all,  it  means  that,  when  a  tree  is  cut  down  another 
shall,  whenever  possible,  be  planted  in  its  stead  to 
provide  for  the  needs  of  the  future. 

It  means  that  we  shall  not  allow  the  farms  of  our 
country  to  lose  five  hundred  million  dollars  in  value 
every  year  by  letting  the  rich  top-soil  drain  off 
into  our  rivers,  because  we  have  cut  away  the  trees 
whose  roots  held  the  soil  in  place.  It  also  means 
that  we  shall  not  steadily  rob  the  land  of  the  ele- 
ments that  would  produce  good  crops,  and  put  noth- 
ing back  into  the  soil. 


8  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

It  means  that  we  shall  not  kill  the  birds  that 
destroy  harmful  insects  and  thus  invite  the  insects 
to  destroy  the  crops  that  we  have  cultivated  with 
such  care. 

It  does  not  mean  that  we  shall  let  our  mines 
of  coal  and  iron  lie  unused,  as  the  miser  does  his 
gold,  but  that  we  shall,  while  taking  what  we  need, 
leave  as  little  waste  in  the  mine  as  possible,  and 
shall  use  what  we  take  in  the  most  economical  way. 
This  means  a  saving  of  money  to  the  user,  as  well 
as  a  conservation  of  resources.  ^  It  means,  too, 
that  we  shall  not  allow  our  water-power  to  remain 
unused,  while  we  burn  millions  of  tons  of  coal  in 
doing  the  work  that  water-power  would  do  better. 

It  means  that  we  shall  not  allow  enough  natural 
gas  to  escape  into  the  air  every  day  to  light  all  the 
large  cities  in  the  United  States.  It  means  that 
we  shall  take  better  care  of  the  life  and  health  of 
the  people. 

This  is  the  true  conservation. 

In  the  following  chapters  we  shall  take  up  each 
of  the  great  resources  in  turn,  shall  see  what  we 
have  used,  what  we  have  wasted,  what  remains  to 
us,  how  long  it  will  continue  at  the  present  rate, 
how  it  may  be  used  more  wisely,  and  how  it  may 
be  replaced,  if  that  be  possible,  or  what  may  be 
used  instead  of  those  which  can  not  be  renewed. 

We  shall  study  how  we  may  make  the  most  of 


WHAT  IS  CONSERVATION?  9 

all  that  nature  has  given  us  and  develop  our 
country  to  the  highest  possible  point,  how  we  may 
rise  far  above  our  present  level  in  comfort,  con- 
venience, and  abundance,  and  yet  do  all  these  things 
with  much  less  waste  than  we  now  permit. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SOIL 

The  soil  is  the  greatest  of  our  natural  resources. 
We  may  almost  say  that  it  is  greater  than  all  the 
others  combined,  for  from  it  comes  all  of  our  food ; 
a  large  part  of  it  directly  as  plants  which  grow  in 
the  soil  and  which  we  eat  in  the  form  of  roots, 
leaves,  grains,  berries,  fruits,  and  nuts;  and  a  part 
of  it  indirectly  as  animals,  which  have  received 
their  food  supply  from  the  plants. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  soil  supplies  almost 
every  known  need.  We  build  our  homes  from  the 
trees  of  the  forest;  combined  with  the  iron  that 
comes  from  the  soil  they  furnish  our  fuel,  our 
ships,  our  cars,  our  furniture,  and  countless  other 
things.  Our  clothing  is  made  from  the  cotton  or 
flax  which  grows  from  the  soil,  the  wool  from  the 
sheep  that  feed  on  the  pastures,  or  from  the  silk- 
worms that  feed  on  leaves. 

So  it  is  to  the  earth  that  we  turn  for  every 
need,  and  Mother  Nature  supplies  it.  But  it  is  of 
the  soil  as  it  gives  us  our  food  supply  that  we  shall 
speak  in  this  chapter,  and  we  must  first  learn  the 

10 


THE  SOIL  II 

nature  of  the  soil,  and  the  process  of  its  making,  in 
order  to  understand  the  need  of  extraordinary  care 
in  its  management,  and  also  how  to  use  it  so  that 
it  will  not  wear  out,  or  become  exhausted,  but  will 
increase  in  value  for  years  and  even  centuries,  as  it 
will  if  properly  cared  for. 

The  earth's  surface  is  constantly  being  renewed. 
Although  the  great  formative  movements  occurred 
ages  ago,  yet  earthquakes,  volcanic  action,  wind, 
frost  and  water  are  working  continual  changes. 
Hills  and  mountains  have  been  thrown  up,  and  na- 
ture has  gone  to  work  at  once  to  shave  down  the 
mountains  and  fill  up  the  valleys.  The  whole  earth 
is  as  carefully  adjusted  and  balanced  as  the  wheels 
of  a  watch,  but  these  adjustments  take  place  in  long 
periods  of  time.  In  a  lifetime,  or  even  a  century, 
the  changes  of  the  earth's  surface  seem  few  and 
small,  but  they  are  none  the  less  sure. 

The  soil  or  humus,  that  is,  the  upper  layer  of  the 
earth's  crust  which  is  used  in  farming,  has  an  aver- 
age depth  of  about  four  feet,  and  has  been  formed 
by  decay,  first  and  most  important  of  all  by  rock 
decay  which  is  constantly  going  on  under  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  and  in  exposed  places  everywhere, 
and  is  caused  by  the  action  of  air  and  water.  This 
process  is  very  slow.  In  places  where  the  rock  is 
already  partly  ground  up,  or  disintegrated,  as  we 
sometimes  say,  it  is  more  rapid,  but  the  average 


12  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

growth  of  the  soil  from  beneath  by  rock  decay  is 
scarcely  more  than  a  foot  in  ten  thousand  years. 

Some  waste  of  this  upper  layer  is  constantly 
taking  place  from  above,  caused  by  wind  and 
floods,  and  considerable  additions  are  made  to  it 
by  the  decay  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  but 
in  order  to  keep  the  soil  at  its  best,  the  average  soil 
waste  should  not  amount  to  more  than  an  inch 
every  thousand  years. 

When  this  humus  is  once  exhausted  there  is  no 
way  to  repair  the  damage  but  to  wait  for  the  slow 
rock-decay.  In  the  river  valleys  there  is  no  im- 
mediate danger  of  exhausting  the  entire  body  of  the 
soil,  but  on  the  hills  and  in  the  higher  regions 
the  soil-depth  is  very  much  less  than  four  feet,  and 
the  danger  of  waste  much  more  serious.  There 
are  parts  of  the  earth  that  were  once  almost  as 
fertile  as  ours  where  great  cities  once  stood,  but 
where  now  nothing  is  left  but  the  bare  rock. 

So  we  know  that  the  end  is  sure,  even  for  the 
life  of  man  upon  earth,  unless  we  learn  to  con- 
serve our  soil. 

'  The  value  of  our  farm  crops  can  not  be  over- 
estimated. In  food  value  they  are  the  life  of  the 
nation ;  in  money  value,  our  greatest  national  wealth. 
For  the  year  1909  the  total  value  of  farm  products 
was  the  amazing  sum  of  $8,760,000,000.  It  may 
give  some  idea  of  this  vast  amount  to  say  that  if 


J 


THE  SOIL  13 

we  could  have  it  in  the  form  of  twenty-dollar  gold 
pieces,  stacked  in  one  pile,  the  column  would  reach 
seven  hundred  miles  high.  If  they  were  laid  flat, 
edge  to  edge,  they  would  extend  from  Alaska  to  the 
Panama  Canal,  with  enough  left  over  to  reach  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco.  If  the  money  could 
be  distributed,  it  would  give  us  all,  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  United  States,  one  hun- 
dred dollars  apiece.  The  corn  crop  was  worth 
$1,720,000,000;  the  cotton  $850,000,000;  wheat 
comes  third  with  a  value  of  $725,000,000 ;  then  come 
hay,  oats,  and  other  crops  in  vast  amounts  worth 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars.  The  cotton  alone 
was  worth  more  than  the  world's  output  of  gold 
and  silver  combined.  The  corn  would  pay  for  the 
Panama  Canal,  for  fifty  battleships,  and  for  the 
irrigation  projects  in  the  West,  with  a  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars  left  over. 

And  this  is  all  new  wealth.  If  we  build  a  house, 
we  have  gained  the  house,  but  the  trees  of  which 
we  build  it  are  gone.  The  same  thing  is  true  of 
every  article  we  manufacture.  Something  is  taken 
from  our  store  in  the  making.  But  after  we  have 
taken  these  wonderful  crops  from  our  farms  the 
land  is  still  there,  and  the  soil  is  just  as  ready  to 
produce  a  good  crop  the  next  year,  and  the  next,  and 
the  next,  if  we  treat  it  properly. 

This  matter  of  soil  conservation  is  of  the  great- 


14  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

est  importance  to  every  one  of  us.  If  you  are  to 
own  a  farm,  or  rent  a  farm,  or  till  a  garden,  or 
plant  an  orchard  ten  years  from  now,  it  will  make 
a  great  difference  to  you  whether  the  man  who  owns 
it  from  now  until  then  knows  how  to  care  for  it 
so  as  to  make  it  produce  well,  or  whether,  by  neg- 
lect, he  allows  it  to  become  poorer  each  year.  It 
will  make  a  far  greater  difference  if  twenty  years 
elapse. 

It  makes  a  difference  to  the  farmer  whether  he 
gets  twelve  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre,  or  whether 
he  gets  twenty,  for  the  cost  of  producing  the 
smaller  amount  is  just  as  great  as  the  cost  of  pro- 
ducing the  larger,  and  the  extra  bushels  are  all 
profit.  It  makes  a  difference  whether  a  garden 
furnishes  all  the  fruit  and  vegetables  needed  by 
the  family,  or  w'hether  it  does  not  even  pay  for 
cultivation,  and  the  food  must  be  bought  at  high 
prices.  It  makes  even  more  difference  to  the 
dweller  in  the  city,  who  must  buy  all  that  he 
eats,  whether  food  is  abundant  or  not.  If  food 
is  abundant,  prices  are  low,  but  when  the  yield 
is  small  the  demand  is  so  great  that  prices  become 
high. 

Not  only  the  men,  but  the  women  and  children  as 
well,  are  affected  by  these  food  values,  because  it 
is  from  the  extra  money  left  over  after  the  actual 
cost  of  living  is  taken  out  that  the  clothing,  the 


THE  SOIL  15 

house- furnishings,  books,  pictures,  music,  travel  and 
all  the  pleasures  of  life  must  come. 

Great  as  are  our  harvests,  we  are  not  raising 
much  more  than  enough  for  our  present  needs. 
Each  year  we  are  using  more  of  our  food  at  home, 
and  have  less  to  export  to  other  countries.  In  a 
few  years  more  the  public  lands  will  all  be  taken, 
and  there  will  be  comparatively  little  more  land  than 
we  now  cultivate  to  supply  a  population  that  will 
be  many  times  as  great  as  at  present. 

Men  who  watch  the  great  movements  of  the  world 
tell  us  that  the  time  is  coming  before  many  years 
when  there  will  not  be  food  enough  to  supply  all 
our  people,  when  we  shall  be  buying  food  from 
other  countries  instead  of  selling  to  them,  when 
we  shall  have  famine  instead  of  plenty  unless  we 
realize  the  danger  and  at  once  set  about  to  make 
the  most  of  every  acre  of  our  land. 

James  J.  Hill,  the  great  railroad  builder  of  the 
Northwest,  and  one  of  the  best  informed  men  of 
the  country  on  food  production  and  the  increase  of 
population,  is  doing  a  great  work  in  pointing  out 
these  dangers  to  the  people  on  every  possible  oc- 
casion. 

Watching  the  great  food-producing  region  of  the 
country,  he  has  noted  that  each  year  the  yield  per 
acre  is  growing  less,  and  the  population  steadily 
more.     He  tells  us  that  when  our  first  census  was 


i6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

taken  only  four  per  cent,  of  the  people  lived  in 
cities,  that  fifty  years  ago  one-third  of  the  people 
lived  in  cities,  and  two-thirds  in  the  country,  that 
is,  two-thirds  of  the  people  were  furnishing  food 
to  the  remainder.  Now  conditions  are  almost  ex- 
actly reversed.  Only  one-third  remain  in  the  coun- 
try, and  must  supply  the  food,  not  only  for  them- 
selves, but  for  all  the  two-thirds  who  are  not  food 
producers,  so  that  the  food  supply  is  lagging  far 
behind  the  demand.  The  price  of  corn  has  ad- 
vanced from  twenty-five  cents  to  sixty-five  cents  a 
bushel  in  ten  years,  and  this  in  turn  raises  the  price 
of  live  stock.  And  so  all  along  the  line.  Prices  are 
growing  higher  all  the  time  because  not  enough 
food  is  being  produced  to  supply  the  demand. 

So  we  can  see  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
the  soil  be  properly  cared  for  if  we  are  to  con- 
tinue to  increase   and  prosper,    for   as   Secretary 
Wilson  has  said,  "  Upon  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
depends  the  whole  business  of  agriculture." 
^     The   soil   is   exhausted   in   two   ways:    (i)    By 
I  erosion,  or  the  carrying  away  of  the  entire  soil  it- 
f  self.     (2)  By  so  using  the  soil  that  one  or  more  of 
Its  principal  elements  are  worn  out.     We  shall  con- 
sider this  form  of  soil  exhaustion  first,  because  it 
more  directly  concerns  the  work  of  every  farmer. 
By  a  fertile  soil  is  meant  one  that  has  an  abun- 
dance of  plant  food  in  the  proper  proportions.     The 


THE  SOIL  \    17 

soil  contains  all  the  elements  that  are  needed  to 
support  life,  but  they  are  in  an  inorganic  form, 
that  is,  they  are  lifeless.  Plants  alone  can  take 
these  inorganic  substances  from  the  soil,  and  change 
them  into  starch,  sugar,  fats,  and  protein.  All 
animals,  including  man,  must  get  these  substances 
through  plants,  or  through  other  animals  that  have 
already  absorbed  them  from  plants. 

The  soil  contains  ten  elements  that  are  absorbed 
or  assimilated  by  plants.  These  are:  (i)  lime,  (2) 
magnesia,  (3)  iron,  (4)  sulphur,  all  of  which  are 
found  in  most  plants  in  very  small  proportions, 
and  are  present  in  most  soils  in  quantities  far  be- 
yond the  needs  of  crops  for  ages  to  come;  (5) 
carbon,  which  is  obtained  by  plants  through  their 
leaves  directly  from  the  air  and  the  sunshine;  (6) 
hydrogen  and  ( 7 )  oxygen,  which  are  taken  from  the 
water  in  the  soil  and  carried  to  the  leaves,  where 
they  also  help  to  take  the  carbon  from  the  atmos- 
phere. With  none  of  these  elements,  then,  does  the 
farmer  need  to  concern  himself  in  regions  where 
the  water  supply  is  abundant,  as  they  are,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  plentifully  supplied  by  nature.  But 
the  other  three,  (8)  nitrogen,  (9)  potassium,  and 
(10)  phosphorus,  are  needed  by  plants  in  large 
quantities,  and  are  taken  from  the  soil  far  more 
rapidly  than  nature  can  replace  them. 

All  these  elements  are  necessary  to  plant  life,  but 


i8  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

some  plants  require  a  large  amount  of  one  element, 
others  a  small  proportion  of  that,  but  a  large  amount 
of  some  of  the  others.  No  two  varieties  of  plants 
require  exactly  the  same  proportions,  so  it  is  easy 
to  see  that  the  plant  that  takes  out  of  the  soil  any 
one  element  makes  the  soil  less  capable  each  year  of 
producing  a  good  crop  of  the  same  kind. 

In  the  early  days  of  farming  in  this  country,  it 
was  the  custom  to  grow  a  single  crop,  which  had 
been  found  to  give  good  results,  year  after  year  in 
the  same  field.  In  Virginia  and  other  near-by 
states  nearly  all  the  best  land  was  given  every  year 
to  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  which  exhausts  the 
soil  rapidly.  In  the  states  farther  north  other  crops 
were  planted  in  the  same  way.  As  a  result,  some 
of  the  most  fertile  soil  in  Virginia,  the  Carolinas, 
Massachusetts,  and  other  eastern  states  has  been  so 
exhausted  that  it  is  no  longer  worth  cultivating. 
Everywhere  throughout  the  New  England  states 
are  to  be  found  these  worn-out  farms,  and,  while 
they  were  never  so  fertile  as  the  lands  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley,  each  one  was  rich  enough  to  support 
a  family  in  comfort,  with  something  left  to  sell; 
but  because  they  were  required  to  produce  the  same 
crops,  and  so  take  the  same  element  from  the  soil, 
year  after  year,  they  have  become  so  lacking  in  one 
of  the  essential  elements  that  they  are  unfit  for 
cultivation,  and  have  been  abandoned. 


THE  SOIL  ig 

It  is  wisdom  and  good  business  policy  for  farm- 
ers to  study  carefully  this  question  of  plant  food 
and  to  learn  what  each  crop  is  taking  from  the  soil, 
so  that  it  may  be  replaced.  It  has  been  found  by 
long  and  careful  experiments,  that  when  land  has 
been  "  single  cropped,"  as  this  abuse  of  the  land 
is  called,  for  a  long  time,  the  soil  has  been  almost 
entirely  deprived  of  its  nitrogen.  As  you  know, 
nitrogen  is  one  of  the  elements  of  the  air,  so  that 
there  is  a  never-ending  supply,  but  most  plants  are 
unable  to  take  it  from  the  air,  and  until  the  last 
few  years  the  task  of  replacing  nitrogen  in  the  soil 
was  considered  impossible.  Recent  discoveries, 
however,  have  shown  that  there  are  two  ways  in 
which  it  may  be  done.  By  means  of  electricity, 
nitrogen  may  be  directly  combined  with  the  other 
elements  of  the  soil.  The  other  method  is  nature's 
own  plan,  and  so  is  easier  and  cheaper.  It  has  been 
found  that  while  most  plants  exhaust  the  nitrogen 
from  the  soil,  one  class  of  plants,  the  legumes,  of 
w^hich  beans,  peas,  clover,  and  alfalfa  are  the  best 
known,  have  the  power  of  drawing  large  stores  of 
nitrogen  from  the  air,  and,  by  means  of  bacteria 
attached  to  their  roots,  restoring  it  to  the  ground. 

So  farmers  have  learned  that  if  they  plant  com 
one  year,  it  is  wiser  not  to  plant  corn  in  the  same 
field  the  next  year,  but  to  sow  wheat,  which  re- 
quires less  nitrogen,  and  the  following  year  to  sow 


20  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

clover,  so  that  the  nitrogen  which  the  corn  and 
wheat  have  taken  from  the  soil,  may  be  put  back 
into  it.  If  the  land  be  naturally  fertile,  and  has 
been  well  cared  for,  the  soil  is  then  ready  to  produce 
a  good  crop  of  com  again. 

If  the  soil  has  become  worn-out  and  the  farmer 
is  trying  to  improve  its  general  condition,  he  can 
gain  better  results  by  keeping  the  field  in  clover  a 
second  year,  when  a  profitable  crop  of  clover  seed 
may  be  had  from  the  land.  This  system  of  chang- 
ing each  year,  and  alternating  cereal  crops,  which 
take  the  nitrogen  from  the  soil,  with  leguminous 
plants,  which  restore  it  to  the  soil  again,  is  called 
"  rotation  of  crops,"  and  if  regularly  followed  will 
preserve  a  proper  balance  of  nitrogen  in  the  soil. 

In  some  parts  of  the  West  there  is  a  lack  of  de- 
caying vegetable  matter  in  the  soil,  because  the 
few  plants  which  naturally  grow  there  have  small 
roots,  and  leave  little  vegetable  material  behind 
when  they  decay.  For  this  condition  one  of  the 
best  crops  to  employ  in  rotation  is  sugar-beets, 
because  they  strike  many  small  roots  deep  into  the 
earth.  As  these  decay,  each  leaves  behind  a  tiny 
load  of  vegetable  mold  deep  in  the  earth,  and  also 
makes  the  soil  more  porous.  As  the  principal  ele- 
ments of  the  soil  needed  by  sugar-beets  are  carbon 
and  oxygen,  which  are  absorbed  from  the  air  and 
sunshine,  and  as  the  beets  can  be  sold  at  a  good 


THE  SOIL  21 

profit,  it  is  an  excellent  crop  to  employ  in  rotation. 
In  the  United  States  records  in  various  states  show 
that  where  sugar-beets  are  used  in  rotation,  the 
wheat  and  corn  yield  is  increased  from  two  to  four 
times,  and  in  Germany  they  are  largely  used  to  re- 
store the  fertility  of  the  land,  even  if  the  sugar- 
beets  themselves  are  sold  at  a  loss. 

It  is  most  important  that  farmers  should  under- 
stand the  principle  of  rotation  of  crops,  because 
nothing  is  taken  from  the  soil  so  quickly  or  in  such 
large  quantities  as  nitrogen,  and  nothing  is  so 
easily  put  back;  while,  if  it  is  not  so  replaced,  the 
land  becomes  worthless. 

A  comparison  of  the  results  of  single  cropping 
and  the  rotation  of  crops  has  been  clearly  shown 
at  the  Experiment  Station  of  the  Agricultural  Col- 
lege of  the  State  of  Minnesota,  where  for  ten  years 
they  have  planted  corn  on  one  plot  of  ground. 
For  the  first  five  years  it  averaged  a  little  more  than 
twenty  bushels  per  acre,  and  for  the  last  five  years, 
eleven  bushels. 

On  another  plot,  where  com  was  planted  in  ro- 
tation, the  average  yield  was  more  than  forty-eight 
bushels,  the  difference  in  average  in  the  two  plots 
being  thirty-two  bushels,  or  twice  the  value  of  the 
entire  average  yield  on  the  exhausted  ground.  The 
corn  grown  at  the  end  of  the  ten  years  was  only 
about  three  feet  high,  the  ears  were  small,  and  the 


22  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

grains  light  in  weight.  But  it  cost  just  as  much  to 
cultivate  the  land  that  produced  it  as  it  did  to  culti- 
vate the  land  that  produced  forty-eight  bushels. 

Of  the  other  two  elements,  potassium  is  found 
abundantly  in  most  soils.  It  is  also  found  in  a 
readily  soluble  form  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States  and  is  sold  at  a  very  low  price.  But  even  if 
these  deposits  were  exhausted  we  could  still  use 
the  rocks  which  are  very  rich  in  potassium, 
and  are  very  abundant,  in  a  pulverized  form,  or 
potash  could  be  manufactured  from  them. 

The  only  remaining  element  of  the  soil  is  phos- 
phorus. This  element  was  discovered  in  1607,  the 
year  of  the  first  English  settlement  at  Jamestown 
and  was  first  noticed  because  of  its  property  of 
giving  off  light  from  itself.  The  name  which  was 
given  it  means  light-bearer.  It  was  at  first  thought 
to  be  the  source  of  all  power,  to  heal  all  diseases, 
and  to  turn  the  common  minerals  into  gold.  Al- 
though we  have  long  ago  learned  that  these  ideas 
are  absurd,  yet  we  have  also  learned  that  its  real 
value  to  man  is  far  greater  than  was  even  dreamed 
of  then. 

It  is  the  most  important  element  in  every  living 
thing,  for  no  cell,  however  small,  in  either  animal 
or  vegetable  organisms  can  grow  or  even  live  with- 
out phosphorus.  It  is  found  in  the  green  of  the 
leaves,   and  helps  to  make  the   starch.     It  enters 


THE  SOIL  23 

largely  into  the  grain  and  seeds  of  plants,  and  is 
necessary  for  their  germination,  or  sprouting,  as 
well  as  their  growth.  Three- fourths  of  all  the 
phosphorus  in  a  crop  of  cereals  is  in  the  grains, 
giving  them  size  and  weight.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
how  necessary  it  is  that  the  soil  which  feeds  our 
plants,  which  in  turn  become  the  food  of  animals 
and  of  man,  should  contain  a  sufficient  amount  of 
phosphorus. 

Phosphorus  is  taken  from  the  soil  in  large 
quantities  by  every  kind  of  crop.  In  parts  of  Wis- 
consin which  have  been  farmed  a  little  more  than 
fifty  years  without  fertilizing,  it  is  found  that  about 
one-third  of  the  phosphorus  has  been  taken  out  of 
the  soil,  which  would  mean  that  in  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  or  a  hundred  years  from  now,  the 
soil  would  be  incapable  of  producing  any  living 
thing,  and  long  before  that  time  the  crops  would 
not  pay  for  the  labor  of  producing  them.  Almost 
every  acre  of  land  that  has  been  farmed  for  ten 
years  without  fertilization  is  deficient  in  phos- 
phorus, that  is,  so  much  has  been  used  that  the  soil 
can  no  longer  produce  at  its  former  rate. 

It  may  be  asked,  if  this  be  true,  why  the  soil 
of  America,  which  before  it  was  cultivated  had 
borne  rich  forests  and  fields  of  waving  grass,  has 
not  become  exhausted  long  ago.  We  must  re- 
member  that   nature  always   adjusts   itself;   that, 


24  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

in  the  wild  state,  all  plants  decay  where  they  grow, 
and  the  same  elements  are  returned  again  to  the 
soil.  But  when  the  entire  product  of  vast  areas 
is  removed  year  after  year,  the  soil  has  nothing  ex- 
cept the  slow  rock-decay  with  which  to  renew 
itself. 

In  tropical  regions  it  is  not  necessary  to  feed 
domestic  animals  at  any  season  of  the  year,  but  in 
those  countries  where  the  natural  food  can  be 
found  only  during  a  part  of  the  year,  the  need  of 
artificial  feeding  is  seen  at  once,  and  it  becomes  a 
part  of  the  regular  expense  of  farming. 

It  would  be  considered  the  height  of  folly  for  a 

man  to  allow   his  valuable   animals   to   starve  to 

death  because  of  the  expense  of  feeding  them,  but 

few  people  recognize  the  fact,  which  is  also  true, 

,   that  it  is  equally  bad  business  policy  to  allow  the 

/  valuable  crops  of  wheat,  oats,  and  corn  to  starve 

\    for  want  of  plant  food. 

The  phosphates  (that  is,  phosphorus)  are  the 
only  large  items  of  expense,  and  in  a  large  meas- 
ure this  may  be  lessened  by  raising  live  stock,  for 
which  high  prices  can  be  obtained  either  as  meat 
or  dairy  products,  and  returning  the  manure,  whic^ 
contains  a  large  amount  of  phosphate,  to  the  soil. 
If  all  the  waste  animal  products  could  be  returned 
to  the  land,  Professor  Van  Hise  says,  three-fourths 
of  the  phosphorus  would  be  replaced.     All  animal 


THE  SOIL  25 

products  are  rich  in  phosphates.  The  packing 
iouses  manufacture  large  quantities  from  the  bones 
and  blood  of  animals. 

The  garbage  of  cities,  when  reduced  to  powder, 
yields  large  returns  in  phosphorus.  It  is  said  that 
if  the  sewage  of  cities,  which  in  this  country  is 
often  turned  into  rivers  and  streams,  polluting  them 
and  causing  disease,  was  reduced  to  commercial 
fertilizer,  it  would  supply  the  equivalent  of  from 
six  to  nine  pounds  of  rock  phosphate  per  year  for 
every  acre  of  cultivated  land  in  the  United  States. 
And  this  valuable  product  is  now  totally  lost,  and 
worse  than  lost,  since  it  menaces  the  life  and  health 
of  great  numbers  of  our  people. 

There  still  remain  to  be  considered  the  rock  phos- 
phates, the  form  in  which  phosphorus  is  found  in 
separate  deposits.  The  only  large  deposits  that 
have  been  used  are  in  Florida,  South  Carolina,  and 
Tennessee,  and  from  them  about  two' and  a  quarter 
million  tons  were  mined  in  1907.  Unfortunately, 
however,  there  is  no  law  that  prevents  its  export 
from  this  country,  and  almost  half  of  this  found 
its  way  to  Europe,  where  it  is  eagerly  sought  at 
high  prices. 

Within  a  short  time  valuable  phosphate  beds, 
more  extensive  than  any  before  known  to  exist  in 
this  country,  have  been  discovered  in  Utah,  Wyom- 
ing, and  Idaho.     Professor  Van  Hise,  who  is  one 


26  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

of  the  highest  authorities  on  the  subject,  says  of 
these  deposits  that  with  the  exception  of  our  coal 
and  iron  lands,  they  are  our  most  precious  min- 
eral possession;  that  every  ounce  should  be  saved 
for  the  time  which  is  coming  when  the  population 
will  have  outgrown  the  capacity  of  the  land,  and 
means  of  increasing  its  fertiHty  in  order  to  pre- 
vent famine  will  be  sought  from  every  possible 
source. 

The  other  great  waste  of  the  soil  is  by  erosion, 
or"^  the  wearing  away  of  the  soil  by  stream-flow. 
We  can  all  see  this  in  a  small  way  by  wandering 
along  the  shore  of  any  swift-running  stream  and 
noticing  how  the  banks  are  worn  away,  and  what 
deep  gullies  and  ravines  are  cut  into  them  by  the 
water  running  down  from  the  fields  above.  An- 
other way  in  which  we  can  observe  the  effect  of 
this  waste  is  by  noticing  the  muddy  yellow  color 
of  streams  during  floods  and  after  heavy  rains,  and 
comparing  it  with  the  clear  blue  of  the  same  stream 
at  ordinary  times. 

When  we  realize  that  this  muddy  color  always 
means  that  the  water  is  filled  with  soil,  all  that  it 
will  hold  in  solution,  that  it  is  carrying  away  the 
top  soil,  which  is  best  for  agriculture,  and,  finally, 
that  every  little  streamlet  and  creek,  as  well  as  the 
mightiest  river,  is  carrying  this  rich  soil-deposit 
downward  toward  the  sea  in  its  flow,  we  begin  to 


THE  SOIL  27 

see  how  great  a  factor  erosion  is  in  the  wasting 
of  the  land. 

The  Missouri  River,  which  drains  a  large  area 
of  wheat  and  corn  land,  is  notable  as  a  muddy,  yel- 
low river  at  almost  all  seasons.  Do  you  under- 
stand what  that  means?  It  means  that  this  great 
productive  region  is  growing  poorer  each  year,  and 
that  as  the  population  increases,  and  the  need  of 
great  harvests  increases,  the  land  is  becoming  less 
able  to  produce  them.  The  Mississippi  River  is 
said  to  tear  down  from  its  banks  more  soil  each 
year  than  is  to  be  dredged  from  the  Panama  Canal. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  a  delta  many  miles  in 
extent,  formed  wholly  of  land  that  has  been  car- 
ried down  the  river.  The  soil  in  lower  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana  is  almost  black,  and  is  in  many  places 
seventy  feet  in  depth,  and  it  has  all  been  left 
there  by  the  river,  which  took  it  from  the  higher 
lands. 

It  is  estimated  that  our  rivers  carry  out  to  sea 
one  billion  tons  of  our  richest  soil  each  year.  The 
ancient  Eg>'ptians  worshiped  the  Nile  because  each 
year  the  spring  floods  left  behind  the  rich  soil 
deposits  that  fertilized  their  fields  and  gave  them 
an  abundant  harvest.  Entire  fields  and  even  whole 
farms  along  the  upper  stretches  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  have  been  carried  away,  not  the  top 
soil  only,  but  the  land  itself,  by  the  swift  current 


28  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

of  the  springtime  floods  as  they  cut  a  new  channel 
for  the  river. 

Canaan,  the  "  land  of  promise  "of  the  Bible, 
was  once  an  abundant  region,  "  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey "  in  the  language  of  Moses,  with  its 
grapes,  its  vast  forests  of  cedar,  fir,  and  oak,  its 
treasures  of  wheat,  olive-oil,  and  other  rich 
agricultural  products.  Now  all  are  gone.  The 
entire  country  seen  by  the  traveler  in  the  Holy 
Land  to-day  is  one  of  the  most  desolate  regions 
on  the  globe,  where  the  few  inhabitants  are  scarcely 
able  to  obtain  a  scanty  living. 

We  wonder  what  has  brought  about  this  change, 
and  we  have  not  far  to  seek  in  answer  to  our 
questioning.  T^e  preservation  of  the  forests  means 
the  preservation  of  the  soil,  and  the  destruction  of 
the  forests  means  the  destruction  of  the  soil.  This 
is  the  universal  law.  First  the  forests  were  cut 
down  and  the  hillsides  left  bare.  Then  the  streams 
wore  great  ravines  down  the  unprotected  hillsides. 
Steadily  the  work  of  destruction  by  erosion  has 
gone  on,  until  time  beyond  our  possibility  to  com- 
prehend must  pass  before  the  land  can  be  made 
productive  again.  The  hills  and  valleys  of  China 
have  been  devastated  in  the  same  way,  and  many 
of  the  older  regions  of  the  earth  that  were  once 
the  sites  of  great  cities  and  extensive  commerce 
are  now  marked  only  by  the  ruins  of  the  civiliza- 


THE  SOIL  29 

tion   that    has   passed    away.     They    have    almost 
ceased  to  support  life. 

In  the  days  of  Rome's  greatness,  Sicily  was  | 
known  as  "  the  granary  of  Rome  "  because  from  | 
this  little  island  came  the  grains  to  supply  her  vast  i 
armies.  12,000,000  bushels  of  grain  was  the  trib-  i 
ute  that  Rome  claimed  of  Sicily  each  year,  and  yet  I 
Sicily  had  enough  left  to  make  her  rich.  She  built 
splendid  cities  and  became  great.  But  the  same 
story  of  destruction  is  to  be  read  in  the  history  of 
Sicily.  Now  the  entire  island  does  not  raise  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half  bushels  of  wheat  altogether.  The 
soil  is  barren.  The  cities  have  nearly  all  fallen  into 
ruin.  The  people  are  scattered.  Thousands  have 
come  to  America,  seeking  a  poor  living  at  the  low- 
est wages  because  at  home  there  was  no  chance  to 
earn  even  the  little  they  require.  They  allowed 
the  soil  to  become  exhausted  by  lack  of  fertilization  | 
and  by  erosion  and  it  long  ago  ceased  to  support  | 
the  people.     All  the  rest  followed  naturally.  * 

In  many  parts  of  our  own  country  this  same 
danger  is  coming  on  us.  It  is  only  the  beginning, 
but  the  end  is  as  sure  for  us  as  for  those  far-off 
Eastern  countries. 

Millions  of  acres  have  already  been  destroyed 
in  the  East  and  South.  The  Appalachian  moun- 
tain system  lies  not  far  from  the  coast,  and  the 
rivers  on  the  eastern  slopes  are  short  and  swift. 


30  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

It  is  necessary,  then,  to  exercise  the  greatest  care 
of  the  forests  in  order  to  prevent  the  floods  in  this 
region  from  carrying  away  the  lands  in  their 
swift  rush  to  the  sea.  North  CaroUna  was  one  of 
the  richest  states  in  the  Union  in  natural  resources 
ia  hundred  years  ago.  Now  it  is  low  on  the  list  in 
agricultural  products.  The  forests  on  its  mountain 
tops  were  valuable  for  their  lumber,  their  turpen- 
tine, pitch,  and  other  products,  and  great  lumber 
companies  have  almost  denuded  the  hillsides,  re- 
gardless of  the  fate  of  the  lands  they  cut  over. 
The  people  of  the  state  are  powerless  to  prevent 
this  except  by  buying  all  of  these  lands  and  re- 
planting the  forests.  They  have  been  pleading  with 
Congress  for  power  to  stop  the  destruction  of  their 
forests  and  the  wasting  of  their  lands,  but  so  far 
have  received  no  assistance  and  meanwhile  the  land 
grows  poorer  each  year.  The  same  conditions  are 
to  be  found  in  many  other  states  that  now  rank 
high  agriculturally,  but  in  North  Carolina  we  are 
^  beginning  to  see  results.'  "i 

f  In  order  to  understand  exactly  how  the  damage 
1  is  done  to  the  land,  let  us  suppose  a  case  which  has 
actually  occurred  in  hundreds  of  places.  A  farmer 
owned  a  farm  on  the  mountain  side.  Much  of  it 
was  good  wheat  land,  but  the  top  was  covered  with 
forests.  At  last  he  decided  to  cut  and  sell  the 
timber,  and  use  the  land  for  raising  more  wheat. 


THE  SOIL  31 

l> 
He  did  so,  but  now  there  was  no  spreading  foliage     '| 

to  check  the  dash  of  the  heavy  rains  as  they  fell  to     i 

the  ground.     As  they  sank  below  the  surface  there     | 

were  no  masses  of  tangled  roots  to  hold  the  mois-     I 

ture  in  the  soil  and  to  carry  it  up  into  the  air  again     | 

through  the  trees.  | 

As  the  water  penetrated  deeper,  the  soil  became      | 

softened,  and  was  carried  away  down  the  hillside.       * 

It  was  only  a  muddy  little  stream,  but  it  took  away 

some  of  the  richest  soil  from  the  fields,  and  the 

next  year's  crop  was  not  quite  so  good.     Every 

rain  that  fell  carried  more  of  the  fertile  soil  down       , 

the  hillside,  and  the  next  year  the  farmer  wondered      | 

that  the  yield  was  still  less.     After  a  few  years  he     I 

ceased  to  sow  the  field  because  it  had  never  paid     | 

for   its   cultivation,   and   was   constantly   growing     v- 

poorer.     But  it  was  too  late  then   to  repair  the     | 

damage  that  had  been  done.     There  were  no  seeds     ' 

of  forest  trees  left  in  the  ground  and  the  farmer 

did  not  plant  them,  so  the  ground  lay  idle  and  I 

desolate.     The  rain  wore  deep  gullies  down  the  hill-  I 

side,  which,  as  they  grew  larger,  became  more  of  * 

a  menace  to  the  lands  below  them.     The  streams 

soon  grew  large  enough  to  take  the  top-soil  from  .^ 

the  fields  lower  down,  and  in  a  few  years  more  the  f 

whole  farm  had  grown  so  unproductive  that  the  | 

farmer,  tired  of  the  struggle,  left  the   farm  and 

went  to  the  city  to  make  a  living. 


32  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

In  the  meantime  the  land  in  the  valley  below  had 
been  growing  more  fertile,  for  each  year  the  spring 
floods  had  left  a  rich  soil  deposit  behind  them.  The 
farmer  down  there  had  been  innocently  stealing  the 
land  above  him,  but  not  all  of  it,  for  much  had  been 
carried  out  to  sea. 

It  is  not  possible  to  prevent  this  entirely,  but 
much  of  the  loss  might  have  been  avoided  by  leav- 
ing the  hilltops,  which  are  never  well  fitted  for  culti- 
vation, covered  with  forests.  In  this  way  the  soil- 
wash  from  above  is  prevented  and  the  streams  run 
gently  and  with  only  a  small  amount  of  muddy  de- 
posit, forming  proper  drainage  for  the  soil. 

The  preserving  of  the  forests  on  the  great  moun- 
tain ranges  of  the  country,  where  nature  has  placed 
them,  will  mean  in  the  one  matter  of  soil-wash, 
fruitful  lands  and  bountiful  harvests,  instead  of 
barren,  wasted  lands,  desolated  by  floods  and 
seamed  by  great  ravines,  carrying  desolation  to 
the  lands  below  them. 

But  in  many  cases  the  trees  are  already  cut  away. 
Here  replanting  becomes  necessary  and  should  be 
done  in  every  case  where  soil-wash  is  beginning 
on  the  mountain  tops.  It  is  almost  equally  desir- 
able to  plant  small  shrubs  and  bushes  as  an  under- 
growth, so  that  the  roots  may  form  a  thick  mat 
below  the  ground  to  hold  the  water  in  the  soil, 
and  permit  it  to  filter  through  slowly. 


THE  SOIL  33 

In  Massachusetts,  the  tracks  of  the  Boston  and 
Albany  Railroad  are  depressed  so  that  trains  may 
pass  below  the  level  of  the  highways.  In  order  to 
protect  the  banks  from  erosion,  the  sloping  sides 
of  this  roadway  have  been  planted  with  trailing 
rose-bushes  and  other  vines  which  have  thickly 
matted  roots.  These  serve  a  double  purpose  in 
preventing  landslides  and  washouts  on  the  tracks, 
and  in  adding  greatly  to  the  attractiveness  of  the 
scenery  along  the  railway. 

The  poorest  land  of  a  farm  is  always  found  on 
the  hilltops,  because  even  with  the  greatest  care 
there  is  always  considerable  w'aste  of  the  top-soil. 
This  land,  then,  should  never  be  used  for  field  crops. 
It  should  constitute  the  woodland,  or  if  this  is  not 
possible,  the  pasture-land  of  the  farm,  for  the  grass 
roots  protect  the  soil  and  prevent  it  from  washing 
away,  and  the  profits  on  the  hay  are  at  least  as  great 
as  any  other  crop  which  could  be  grown  on  hill 
land. 

But  when  erosion  has  been  checked  and  the  top- 
soil  preserved,  when  the  soil  is  thoroughly  fertil- 
ized, and  a  proper  rotation  of  crops  established, 
there  are  still  other  lessons  to  be  learned  in  order  to 
make  our  country  as  productive  as  it  might  be,  as 
it  will  need  to  be  to  support  the  population  that  we 
shall  have  by  the  end  of  the  century. 

As  a   nation   we  undertake   to   farm   too  much 


34  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

land  and  do  it  carelessly.  The  invention  of  labor- 
saving  machinery  has  made  it  possible  to  farm 
hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  acres  together 
with  little  physical  labor.  This  has  made  farmers 
.heedless  of  small  amounts  of  land  wasted. 

)  A  man  often  only  expects  to  make  a  comfortable 
living  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  while 
in  Europe  he  would  expect  to  grow  rich  on  two  or 
three  acres.  It  is  often  said  that  a  French  family 
would  live  off  of  an  American  farmer's  neglected 
fence-corners.  In  France,  in  England,  in  Holland 
and  Belgium  every  bit  of  land  is  tended  and  made 
useful.  We  have  the  best  natural  soil  in  the  world, 
the  most  fertile  river  valleys,  watered  by  abundant 
rains.     The  fertility  of  our  lands  is  the  envy  of 

i  the  civilized  world,  and  has  drawn  thousands  to 
bur  shores  in  the  hope  of  finding  comfort  and  plenty, 
and  yet  the  total  value  of  our  farm  products  was 
only  eleven  dollars  and  thirty-eight  cents  per  culti- 
vated acre  according  to  the  last  census,  while  in 
^the  little  island  of  Jersey,  just  off  the  English  coast, 
the  average  annual  value  of  products  is  over  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  acre. 
Germany  has  been  cultivated  nearly  eighteen 
hundred  years,  the  soil  is  not  naturally  so  pro- 
ductive nor  the  climate  so  favorable  as  ours,  but 
the  wheat  yield  there  averages  more  than  twice  as 
much  as  in  this  country. 


THE  SOIL  35 

When  the  most  fertile  land  in  the  world  produces  I 
so  much  less  than  poorer  lands  elsewhere  it  plainly  |: 
shows  that  we  are  robbing  the  soil  in  order  to  get  I 
the  largest  cash  returns  in  the  shortest  possible  time  | 
and  with  the  least  possible  labor. 

The  American  farmer  needs  to  cultivate  a  much 
smaller  amount  of  land  thoroughly,  to  have  a  soil 
analysis  made  of  his  land  In  order  to  know  what 
crops  are  best  suited  to  it  and  what  elements  are 
lacking  to  make  it  produce  the  best.  In  Illinois 
more  than  half  a  million  acres  had  become  unfit  for 
cultivation.  Analysis  showed  that  the  soil  was  too 
acid.  By  mixing  lime-stone  dust  with  the  soil  the 
trouble  was  corrected  and  the  land  reclaimed. 

Often  it  is  only  necessary  to  find  the  cause  of 
some  deficiency,  or  lack,  in  the  soil,  and  the  remedy 
will  be  found  to  be  simple  and  cheap,  while  the  re- 
sult of  its  use  will  be  to  double  the  crop.  Nothing 
else  so  quickly  and  easily  responds  to  proper  treat- 
ment, no  other  resource  is  so  easily  conserved.  All 
the  soil  needs  is  proper  treatment. 

Every  bit  of  waste  land  should  be  cultivated  for 
either  use  or  beauty,  or  both.  If  all  the  lanes  and 
neglected  places  could  be  planted  with  fruit  and 
nut  trees,  berry  vines,  and  bushes,  herbs  or  flowers 
which  need  little  cultivation  after  they  are  planted, 
our  food,  in  variety  and  quantity,  would  be  greatly 
increased.     "  The    hedge-rows   of   Old    England " 


36  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

are  famous  for  their  beauty  and  the  air  of  comfort 
and  prosperity  they  give.  They  take  the  place  of 
the  weeds  that  grow  by  the  country  roadsides  in 
America  and  which  constitute  one  of  the  greatest 
nuisances  of  the  farmer. 

Another  thing  that  should  be  considered  is  the 
marketing  of  farm  products.  Near  a  city  or  near  a 
canning  factory  the  soil  can  be  most  profitably  used 
for  the  raising  of  vegetables,  for  which  the  cost  of 
cultivation  is  great,  but  which  yield  far  larger 
profits  than  farm  crops. 

Within  the  last  few  years  a  new  system  of  farm- 
ing has  been  developed  in  the  West,  which  is  of 
great  interest  to  all  of  us,  both  because  it  is  open- 
ing up  for  production  a  large  part  of  our  country 
that  has  seemed  valueless,  and  because  the  lessons 
that  have  been  learned  there  are  of  the  greatest 
advantage  in  every  part  of  the  country. 

West  of  the  one-hundredth  meridian,  which 
crosses  North  and  South  Dakota,  the  western  part 
of  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Oklahoma,  and  Texas,  and 
including  the  states  west  of  them,  lies  a  vast  region 
that  used  to  be  known  as  the  "  great  American 
desert."  It  comprises  almost  half  of  the  United 
States.  Here  the  noble  forests  of  the  eastern  states 
and  the  prairie  grasses  of  the  plains  were  replaced 
by  sage-brush  and  cactus.  The  soil  was  light  in 
color  and  weight,  and  the  rainfall  very  scanty. 


THE  SOIL  37 

It  seemed  impossible  that  it  could  ever  be  fitted 
for  agriculture.  But  there  were  a  few  great  rivers, 
rich  mining  districts,  and  excellent  grazing  lands. 
These  attracted  settlers,  and  to  them  some  culti- 
vation of  the  soil  became  almost  a  necessity.  The 
waste  waters  of  the  rivers  were  used  for  irrigation 
and  the  land  when  watered  was  found  to  produce 
remarkably  fine  fruits  and  agricultural  products. 
Yet  there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  that 
could  not  be  irrigated  for  lack  of  water,  and  the 
problem  of  finding  a  use  for  these  barren,  semi-arid 
lands  remained  unsolved  for  many  years. 

But  here  and  there  in  different  states  and  under 
varying  conditions,  after  many  experiments  and 
failures,  men  began  without  water  to  grow  success- 
ful crops  on  these  semi-arid  lands,  where  the  rain- 
fall was  scarcely  more  than  ten  inches  per  year. 
Others  following  this  method  found  success,  and 
it  began  to  seem  possible  that  all  this  territory 
might  some  day  become  a  great  farming  region. 

By  comparing  the  methods  employed  in  different 
states,  the  few  general  laws  have  been  worked  out 
which  must  be  applied  in  order  to  farm  success- 
fully in  this  region,  though  the  details  differ  with 
local  differences  in  altitude,  climate,  soil,  and  rain- 
fall. Here  farming  is  being  reduced  to  a  science. 
In  other  parts  of  the  country  a  man  sows  his  seed 
and  nature  cares  for  it,  and  gives  him  his  harvest; 


38  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

but  here  he  must  wring  from  nature  all  that  he 
gets,  so  it  is  only  the  man  who  farms  according  to 
fixed  laws  who  can  hope  to  succeed. 

This  system  is  usually  called  "  dry  farming," 
though  "  scientific  farming "  would  perhaps  be  a 
better  name,  for  the  same  principles  that  are  ab- 
solutely necessary  here  will  greatly  increase  the 
yield  anywhere.  The  most  important  principle  is 
to  conserve  every  particle  of  moisture  in  the  soil. 
It  is  necessary  to  go  deep  into  the  soil  to  find  the 
underlying  moisture.  The  seed-bed  is  made  very 
deep.  Plowing  is  from  sixteen  to  nineteen  inches 
deep,  while  in  well-watered  regions  it  is  only  about 
six  inches.  This  deep  seed-bed  is  thoroughly  culti- 
vated to  make  the  soil  porous,  the  soil  being  re- 
duced to  a  fine  powder.  After  sowing  the  seed, 
the  ground  is  packed  as  solidly  as  possible.  This 
is  done  by  especially  designed  machines.  The  sur- 
face of  the  soil  is  kept  broken  all  the  time  to  prevent 
the  escape  of  the  moisture.  This  rule  applies  equally 
to  all  soils  in  dry  weather,  and  will  often  save  a 
crop  of  corn  in  any  part  of  the  country  during  a 
drought. 

These  are  simple  rules,  but  the  practice  of  them  is 
opening  up  the  great  semi-arid  regions,  not  of  the 
United  States  only,  but  of  the  whole  earth.  West- 
ern Canada,  a  large  part  of  Australia,  the  Kalahari 
Desert  of  Africa,  and  many  parts  of  Asia,  which 


THE  SOIL  39 

are  all  semi-arid,  will  in  time  become  productive 
instead  of  barren. 

It  must  be  remarked  that  the  grains  of  the  East 
could  not  withstand  the  severe  winters  in  a  large 
part  of  the  Northwest,  so  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture sent  men  all  over  the  world  to  find  drought- 
and-cold-resisting  grains.  They  found  a  hard 
winter  wheat,  the  most  nutritious  in  existence, 
which  is  now  growing  all  the  way  from  the  Dakotas 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  producing  crops  far  above  the 
yield  of  the  eastern  states.  50,000,000  bushels  of 
this  wheat  was  raised  in  1907. 

The  soil  is  the  natural  disintegrated  rock,  rich  in 
the  mineral  elements,  but  lacking  in  decayed  vege- 
table matter.  The  crops  soon  exhaust  the  nitrogen, 
and  as  clover  and  the  common  alfalfas  can  not  grow 
there,  the  problem  of  finding  legumes  has  been  the 
most  serious  one  facing  this  new  region;  but  in 
Siberia  the  Agricultural  Department  has  recently 
found  a  new  clover  and  three  varieties  of  alfalfa 
that  will  stand  the  cold,  and  Secretary  Wilson  be- 
lieves that  these  will  solve  the  problem. 

Every  acre  brought  under  cultivation  adds  to 
the  world's  food  supply.  Can  we  even  dream  of 
what  it  will  mean  when  200,000,000  acres  are  added 
to  the  farm  lands  of  this  continent?  It  means 
prosperity  for  the  farmers  themselves,  homes  for 
those  who  are  now  crowded  in  cities,   work   for 


40  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

the  idle,  and  food  for  the  hungry.  It  means^wealth 
and  happiness  for  thousands  now  living  and  millions 
yet  tocome. 

REFERENCES 

Lands.    Report  National  Conservation  Commission. 

Soil  Wastage.  Chamberlain.  Report  White  House  Confer- 
ence of  Governors. 

Conservation  of  Soils.    Van  Hise.     (Same.) 

Commercial  Fertilizers.     Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bulletin,  44.* 

The  Liming  of  Soils.    Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bulletin,  57. 

Renovation  of  Worn-out  Soils.  Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bul- 
letin, 245. 

Soil  Fertility.    Dept  of  Agriculture  Bulletin,  257. 

Management  of  Soils  to  Conserve  Moisture.  Dept.  of  Ag- 
riculture Bulletin,  266. 

Fertilizers  for  Cotton  Soils.    Bureau  of  Soils  Bulletin,  62. 

Work  of  the  Bureau  of  Soils.    Bureau  of  Soils  Bulletin. 

Exhaustion  and  Abandonment  of  Soils.  Bureau  of  Soils 
Bulletin.    Whitney,  5c. 

Phosphorus.  Illinois  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Bulletin. 

The  Present  Status  of  the  Nitrogen  Problem.  Yearbook 
Dept.  of  Agriculture  Reprint,  411. 

The  Search  for  Leguminous  Forage  Crops.  Yearbook  Dept. 
of  Agriculture  Reprint,  478. 

Leguminous  Crops.  Yearbook  Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bul- 
letin, 278. 

Progress  in  Legume  Inoculation.  Yearbook  Dept.  of  Agri- 
culture Bulletin,  315. 

*  Department  of  Agriculture  bulletins  are  free  unless  a  price  is  in- 
dicated, and  may  be  obtained  by  application  to  The  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. Washington,  D.  C.  Postage  is  free  in  the  United  States. 
These  bulletins  contain  the  latest  scientific  information  and  result  of 
research  work  by  the  government. 


THE  SOIL  41 

A  Grain  for  Semi-arid  Lands.    Yearbook  Dept.  of  Agri- 
culture Bulletin,  139. 
The  Sugar-Beet.    Yearbook  Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bulletin, 

52. 

Dry-Land  Problems  in  the  Great  Plains  Area.  Yearbook 
Dept.  of  Agriculture  Reprint,  461. 

Reports  of  Dry  Farming  Congress. 

The  Natural  Wealth  of  the  Land.  J.  J.  Hill,  Report  Gov- 
ernor's Conference. 

National  Wealth  and  the  Farm.    J.  J.  Hill, 


CHAPTER  III 

FORESTS 

Aside  from  the  soil  itself,  which  supports  all  life, 
there  is  no  other  resource  so  important  to  man  as  the 
forests,  with  their  many  uses  covering  so  wide  a 
range. 

The  beauty  and  rest  fulness  of  a  forest,  the  grace 
and  dignity  of  single  trees,  the  shade  for  man  and 
animals,  the  shelter  from  storms  —  all  these  things 
appeal  to  our  love  for  the  beautiful,  and  touch  our 
higher  nature.  The  person  who.  loyes,.,tr£es  is  a 
better  person  than  the  one  who  does  not.  As  the 
poet  expresses  it: 

"Ah,  bare  must  be  the  shadeless  ways,  and  bleak 

the  path  must  be, 
Of  him,  who,  having  open  eyes,  has  never  learned 

to  see. 
And  so  has  never  learned  to  love  the  beauty  of  a 

tree, 

**  Who  loves  a  tree,  he  loves  the  life  that  springs  in 
star  and  clod, 

42 


FORESTS  43 

He  loves  the  love  that  gilds  the  clouds,  and  greens 

the  April  sod, 
He  loves  the  wide  Beneficence ;  his  soul  takes  hold 

on  God." 


Trees  have  played  an  important  part  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  country :  The  "  Charter  Oak,"  in  the 
hollow  of  which  the  original  charter  of  Connecticut 
remained  hidden  from  the  agents  of  the  king; 
"  Eliot's  Oak,"  under  which  the  gospel  was  first 
preached  to  the  Indians;  the  wide-spreading  elm 
under  which  William  Penn  signed  his  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  Indians. 

But  no  tree  has  held  so  dear  a  place  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  or  been  so  watchfully  cared  for  as 
the  old  "  Washington  Elm  "  still  standing  in  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts.  Under  it  Washington  took 
command  of  the  continental  army.  It  is  visited 
e\'ery  year  by  hundreds  of  persons,  who  stand  with 
uncovered  heads  beneath  its  spreading  branches. 
Many  years  ago  it  was  struck  by  lightning  and  the 
upper  part  torn  off,  but  all  the  broken  edges  have 
been  sealed  with  pitch  to  stop  decay.  It  has  been 
covered  with  fine  wire  netting  to  prevent  the  bark 
being  chipped  off  by  relic  hunters.  It  is  carefully 
guarded  from  damage  by  insects,  and  the  boughs 
are  stayed  by  strong  wires. 

And  so  we  might  name  many  instances  of  trees 


44  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

that  are  loved  and  cared  for  on  account  of  their 
beauty,  stateliness  or  some  event  connected  with 
them,  but  it  is  the  usefulness  of  trees  that  we  shall 
mention  in  this  chapter. 

In  the  larger  use  of  forests  is  included  their  ef- 
fect on  climate  and  rainfall.     It  is  generally  be- 
lieved that  clouds,  passing  over  the  damp,  cool  air 
that  rises  from  a  forest,  are  more  likely  to  be  con- 
densed into  rain,  and  so  we  can  establish  the  general 
rule  that  the  country  which  is  well  wooded  will 
probably  have  a  larger  rainfall  than  the  one  which 
has  few  trees. 
I     Twenty-five  years  ago  Kansas  was  a  prairie  state 
j'  with  few  trees,  and  the  semi-arid  plains  extended 
I  half-way  across  the  state,  but  thousands  of  acres 
I  of  trees  have  been  planted,  and  crops  have  been 
I  cultivated,    and   the   more    forests   and    crops   the 
farmer  plants  the  more  rain  comes  to  water  them. 
The  great  droughts  which  used  to  ruin  their  crops 
year  after  year  no  longer  disturb  them.     The  hot 
winds   which  could   undo   a  whole   season's   hard 
work  in  a  day  are  seldom  heard  of  now.     Kansas 
is  no  longer  in  the  semi-arid  region.     It  is  one  of 
the  most  productive  states  in  the  Union,  and  this 
has  come,  not  by  dry- farming,  but  by  the  cultivation 
:  of  the  soil  and  by  the  planting  of  trees. 

Though  rainfall  increases,  destructive  floods  be- 
come fewer,  for  the  humus  and  the  leaves  on  the 


FORESTS  45 

ground  in  the  forests  hold  the  water  as  in  a  vast 
sponge,  and,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  they  keep  the  waters  in  check  and  dis- 
tribute the  rainfall  gently  and  evenly  on  the  lands 
below.  They  thus  prevent  erosion  of  the  hillsides 
and  balance  the  water  supply  of  rivers. 

Trees  supply  us  with  food  and  medicine,  and 
greatest  of  all  their  direct  uses,  they  furnish  lumber 
for  all  kinds  of  manufacturing. 

We  can  not  think  of  life  without  the  comforts 
and  conveniences  that  we  get  from  wood;  but  in- 
terior China  affords  a  striking  example  of  what  it 
means  for  a  nation  to  have  a  very  small  supply. 
There  is  no  wood  for  manufacturing  and  the  natives 
search  the  hillsides  for  even  the  tiniest  shrubs 
to  burn  and  even  for  grass  scratched  from  the  soil. 
Once  this  part  of  China  was  a  great  forest  region, 
but  century  by  century  the  forests  have  been  used, 
not  rapidly,  as  in  this  country,  for  China  is  not  a 
great  industrial  nation,  but  surely,  until  there  is 
hardly  a  twig  left. 

China  is  not  the  only  nation  that  has  suffered  in 
this  way.  Many  of  the  ancient  peoples  have  en- 
tirely passed  away;  and  the  destruction  of  their 
forests,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  previous  chapter, 
was  the  first  cause  leading  to  their  extinction. 

Denmark  was  originally  almost  covered  with 
forests.     These  were  cut  down  for  fuel,  for  lumber, 


46  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

and  to  make  way  for  agriculture.  For  a  long  time 
there  was  no  attempt  to  restore  them,  and  now  a 
large  area,  once  productive,  has  become  a  sandy 
desert.  In  the  same  way,  large  parts  of  Austria 
and  Italy  have  become  valueless  because  the  grow- 
ing forests  were  cut  down. 

In  France  the  forests  at  the  head-waters  of  the 
Rhone  and  the  Seine  were  cut  down  and  fierce 
floods  began  to  pour  down  the  valleys  each  year, 
bringing  destruction  to  property  and  crops  all  along 
their  way.  But  France  has  long  ago  learned  the 
lesson  of  forestry,  and  as  soon  as  the  danger  was 
seen,  the  mountain  sides  were  replanted  with  trees, 
and  since  then  conditions  have  been  gradually 
changing  for  the  better. 

France  has  had  another  experience  in  forestry 
that  has  taught  her  what  can  be  done  to  save  her 
waste  lands.  Near  the  coast  were  great  sand-dunes. 
The  winds  drove  them  each  year  farther  inland,  and 
the  sand  was  gradually  driving  out  the  vineyards 
and  farm  crops.  In  1793  the  planting  of  forests 
on  these  dunes  was  begun.  Of  350,000  acres, 
275,000  have  been  planted  in  valuable  pine  forests. 
More  than  half  of  these  belong  to  private  owners 
and  there  is  no  record  of  their  value,  but  the  por- 
tion belonging  to  the  government  has  yielded  a 
large  income  above  all  expenses,  and  is  worth 
$10,000,000  as  land;  and  this  was  not  only  value- 


FORESTS  47 

less  but  was  a  menace  to  the  surrounding  country. 
In  the  interior  of  France  a  sandy  marsh  covering 
2,000,000  acres  has  been  changed  into  a  profitable 
forest  valued  at  $100,000,000. 

A  hundred  years  ago  all  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the 
Pacific  coast  region  were  covered  with  thick  for- 
ests hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent. 
Evergreens  —  the  pines,  hemlocks,  cedars  and 
spruces  —  grew  near  the  coast  in  great  abundance, 
while  farther  inland  were  found  the  most  magnifi- 
cent hardwood  forests  in  the  world. 

Unfortunately,  the  first  needs  of  the  early  settlers 
required  them  to  cut  down  these  mighty  forests. 
The  soil,  which  was  very  fertile,  could  not,  of  course, 
be  used  for  farming  purposes  until  the  land  was 
cleared,  and  so  this  was  the  first  necessity. 

The  wood  was  used  to  build  the  cabins,  to  make 
the  rude  furniture,  the  wagons  and  ox-carts,  and 
for  fuel,  but  this  disposed  of  only  a  small  amount 
of  the  wood  that  came  from  the  clearing  of  a  farm. 
No  man  could  give  it  to  his  neighbor  when  all  had 
more  than  they  could  use,  and  there  was  no  market 
for  its  sale.  The  trees  were  burned  in  large  quanti- 
ties to  clear  the  land  for  the  planting  of  crops. 

Wood  was  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  first  set- 
tlers, but  it  was  also  the  greatest  hindrance  to  their 
making  homes,  so  they  took  no  care  whatever  of 


48  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

what  they  could  not  use.  It  was  burned  or  left  on 
the  ground  to  decay.  As  towns  sprang  up,  there 
began  to  be  a  demand  for  lumber  for  houses,  for 
furniture,  for  vehicles  and  for  fuel  from  those  who 
had  no  trees  of  their  own.  This  made  a  market 
for  the  best  grades  of  lumber  at  a  low  price,  but 
almost  every  farmer  would  give  away  trees  of  the 
best  hardwood  to  any  person  who  would  cut  and 
haul  them  away. 

Conditions  have  changed  very  slowly,  but  very 
surely.  In  every  state,  in  every  county  and  in 
every  township  there  has  been  a  steady  clearing 
of  the  land  as  it  fills  with  new  home-makers.  At 
the  same  time  the  demand  has  grown  enormously 
each  year  from  the  dwellers  in  cities. 

The  opening  up  of  railroads  and  telegraph  lines 
in  the  middle  and  latter  part  of  the  century  made 
a  great  demand  for  wood.  The  building  of  ships 
and  steamboats,  the  opening  of  mines,  the  establish- 
ing of  telephone  and  trolley  systems,  the  building 
of  great  cities,  all  these  have  called  steadily  and 
increasingly  for  wood. 

The  time  has  long  passed  when  wood  was  a 
hindrance  to  progress.  For  a  long  time  there  has 
been  a  ready  market  at  high  prices  and  it  is  rapidly 
reaching  the  point  where  we  shall  face  an  actual 
shortage  of  timber.  This  is  not  true  of  all  parts 
of  the   country,   of   course.     Maine,   Washington, 


FORESTS  49 

and  parts  of  Oregon,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  and 
Mississippi,  Wisconsin  and  some  other  states,  still 
have  vast  quantities  of  lumber,  but  trains  and  ships 
carry  it  to  all  parts  of  the  world  so  there  is  no  lack 
of  a  market. 

The  change  from  plenty,  even  great  excess,  to 
need,  has  come  so  gradually  that  few  persons,  even 
those  living  in  the  forest  regions,  have  realized  until 
within  a  very  few  years  how  general  is  their  de- 
struction. Those  who,  riding  about  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  country  familiar  to  them,  have  been 
struck  with  the  disappearance  of  the  woods  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  lands,  have  looked  upon  it 
wholly  as  a  sign  of  progress,  and  have  not  realized 
that  the  same  thing  is  going  on  in  every  part  of  the 
country. 

The  wholesale  destruction  of  the  forests,  with- 
out replanting,  has  come  mostly  from  ignorance. 
We  have  had  all  our  resources  in  such  great  abun- 
dance that  we  have  not  hitherto  needed  to  learn 
the  lessons  that  the  Old  World  has  learned,  some- 
times at  the  cost  of  whole  nations,  but  the  time 
has  come  when  we  do  need  to  learn  them. 

The  first  lesson  is  to  study  the  various  uses  of 
the  forests,  to  find  how  they  are  being  affected  by 
present  use,  their  wastes,  and  the  best  means  of 
preserving  them.  When  all  the  people  have  learned 
these   lessons,    they    will,    undoubtedly,    gladly    set 


50  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

about  righting  the  wrongs  that  have  been  done  in 
the  past. 

The  original  forests  of  this  country  covered  an 
area  of  about  850,000,000  acres,  with  nearly  five 
and  a  half  trillion  board  feet  of  "  merchantable," 
that  is,  salable,  timber  according  to  present  stand- 
ards. (A  board  foot  is  one  foot  long,  one  foot 
wide  and  one  inch  in  thickness.)  Considerably 
more  than  half  the  original  number  of  acres  are 
still  forested,  but  most  of  the  land  has  been  cut  or 
burned  over,  some  of  it  several  times,  and  the 
amount  remaining  of  salable  timber,  which  includes 
only  the  best  part  of  the  trunk,  is  from  two  to  two 
and  a  half  trillion,  that  is  from  1,400  to  2,000 
billion,  feet.  The  yearly  cut  for  all  purposes,  in- 
cluding waste,  is  now  over  two  hundred  billion 
board  feet ;  —  some  authorities  place  the  amount  as 
high  as  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  billion  feet. 
This,  however,  probably  includes  firewood,  one  of 
the  largest  uses  of  wood,  but  taken  very  largely 
from  worm-eaten  wood  that  could  not  be  cut  into 
lumber.  It  also  probably  includes  boughs,  and 
other  unsalable  parts  of  the  tree. 

The  timber  cut  doubled  from  1880  to  1905,  is 
still  increasing  at  almost  the  same  rate,  and,  if  we 
had  the  timber,  it  would  doubtless  double  again  by 
1930.  But  even  at  the  present  rate,  the  forests 
now  standing,  without  allowance  for  growth,  would 


FORESTS  SI 

be  exhausted  in  from  ten  to  sixteen  years.  The 
yearly  growth  of  timber  in  our  present  forests  is  esti- 
mated at  from  forty-two  to  sixty  billion  feet,  and 
the  yearly  cut  at  from  three  to  three  and  a  half 
times  the  amount  added  for  growth. 
"That  is,  we  are  using  in  four  months  at  least  as 
much  wood  as  will  naturally  grow  in  a  year.  The 
other  eight  months  we  shall  be  using  our  forest 
reserves,  and  each  year  there  will  be  less  forest 
land  to  produce  new  growth,  as  well  as  less  old 
wood  to  cut. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Long,  an  expert  lumberman  who 
spoke  before  the  first  Conservation  Congress,  esti- 
mated then  that  the  forests,  making  allowance  for 
growth,  would  not  last  over  thirty-five  years.  The 
government  figures  indicate  that  they  will  last  about 
thirty-three  years,  at  the  present  rate,  but  as  the 
rate  has  been  doubling  every  twenty-five  years, 
many  persons  who  have  studied  the  situation  be- 
lieve that  the  supply  will  not  continue  in  commercial 
quantities  for  manufacturing  more  than  twenty-five 
years. 

We  must  understand,  must  think,  what  the  de- 
struction of  our  forests  would  mean  to  us.  It 
would  mean  fierce  droughts  and  fiercer  floods.  It 
would  mean  the  gradual  drying  up  of  our  streams,  a 
scarcity  of  water  to  drink,  as  in  China  to-day.  It 
would  mean  that  the  manufacture  of  wooden  arti- 


52  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

cles  would  practically  cease.  The  thousand  con- 
veniences that  we  enjoy  as  a  matter  of  course  would 
become  rare  and  costly.  It  would  mean  that  only 
the  rich  could  build  houses  of  wood,  and  this  would 
force  the  masses  of  people  into  crowded  quarters, 
not  only  the  poor,  but  the  well-to-do  also.  These 
are  only  a  few  of  the  many  disasters  that  would 
I  follow  the  loss  of  our  forests,  and  all  these 
things  might  come  to  pass  before  we  ourselves  are 
old! 

If  we  knew  that  at  a  certain  time  a  tidal  wave 

would  engulf  our  homes,  how  we  should  work  to 

save  all  that  we  could  before  the  calamity  over- 

.  took  us!     And  we  should  set  about  the  saving  of 

I  our  forests  with  equal  care,  for  their  destruction 

means  distress  for  every  one  of  us. 

Fortunately,  this  is  only  the  dark  possibility. 
The  methods  of  prevention  are  well  known  to  those 
who  have  studied  the  history  of  the  nations  that 
have  fallen,  and  the  nations  that  have  risen  to 
power.  It  is  only  necessary  that  all  the  people 
should  know  these  things  and  realize  their  impor- 
tance, in  order  to  keep  conditions  as  they  are  at 
present  or  even  to  better  them. 

The  methods  of  prevention  are  five.     They  are: 

(i)  To  use  the  trees  in  the  most  careful  and 
conservative  way  without  the  great  wastes  now 
common. 


FORESTS  53 

(2)  To  save  the  vast  areas  of  forests  that  are 
how  burned  each  year. 

(3)  To  prevent  loss  from  insects. 

(4)  To  use  substitutes :  that  is,  to  use  other  and 
cheaper  materials  to  take  the  place  of  wood  when- 
ever possible. 

( 5 )  To  plant  trees  and  to  replant  where  old  ones 
have  been  cut,  until  all  land  that  is  not  fitted  for 
agriculture  is  covered  with  forests. 

These  are  only  the  rules  that  good  sense  and  good 
business  would  teach  us  to  follow,  but  we  have  not 
followed  any  of  them  in  the  past,  and  now  it  will 
be  necessary  to  do  all  these  things  if  we  are  to 
continue  to  have  enough  wood  to  use  to  keep  pace 
with  our  progress  in  other  directions. 

As  an  example  of  the  rapid  rate  at  which  we  are 
consuming  our  forests,  we  use  nine  times  as  much 
lumber  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  as  the^ 
people  of  Germany  use,  and  twenty-five  times  as 
much  as  the  people  of  England  use.  This  is  due  to 
several  causes,  many  of  which  we  would  not  wish 
changed. 

To  begin  with,  this  was  a  new  and  undeveloped 
country,  a  large  part  of  which  had  never  been  in- 
habited, and  all  the  land,  as  fast  as  it  was  occupied, 
must  be  built  up  with  entirely  new  homes;  and  be- 
cause wood  is  the  cheapest  building  material  it  is 
the  one  generally  used. 


54  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

The  growth  of  all  European  countries  is  mostly 
by  the  increase  of  their  own  people,  while  this  is 
only  a  small  percentage  of  our  growth,  which  comes 
largely  from  immigration  from  other  countries,  so 
the  increase  of  population  is  much  greater  here 
and  the  proportion  of  new  homes  needed  is  far 
greater.  Improvements  of  all  kinds,  public  build- 
ings, churches  and  bridges  were  built  in  almost 
every  European  community  long  ago,  while  in  this 
country  these  things  are  being  done  each  year  in 
thousands  of  places. 

Wages  are  higher  in  this  country,  and  more  peo- 
ple are  able  to  afford  the  luxuries  of  life,  vehicles, 
musical  instruments,  and  the  large  variety  of  small 
conveniences  to  be  found  in  almost  every  American 
home  but  seen  in  few  homes  of  the  poorer  class  in 
Europe. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  reasons  why  we  use  such 

a  large  amount  of  lumber  each  year.     They  are  all 

conditions  that  mean  a  larger,  better  nation  than 

we  could  otherwise  have,  with  a  higher  standard 

I  of  living,  and  while  in  some  particulars,  as  we  shall 

t   show,  there  should  be  changes  that  would  conserve 

'   our  forests,  the  great  wastes  do  not  lie  in  the  tise, 

''   bui,in  the  abuse  of  the  forests. 

Now  let  us  see  what  use  is  made  of  all  the  wood 
that  is  cut  every  year.  The  greatest  use  of  all  is 
for  fire-wood,  but  this  is  largely  the  decaying  or 


FORESTS  55 

faulty  trees  from  farmers'  wood-lots,  or  the  waste 
product  of  a  lumber  region,  so  this  does  not  con- 
stitute so  heavy  a  drain  on  the  forests  as  the  fact 
that  100,000,000  cords  a  year  are  used,  would  in- 
dicate. 

Twenty  times  as  much  of  the  salable  timber  is 
sawed  into  lumber  as  is  used  in  any  other  way. 
Neary  40,000,000,000  board  feet  are  thus  used,  but 
lumber  is  used  in  a  variety  of  ways,  while  the  other 
cuts  are  confined  to  a  single  use. 

The  first  and  greatest  use  of  lumber  is  for  build- 
ing purposes,  for  houses,  barns,  sheds,  out-build- 
ings, fences,  and  for  window-sashes,  doors  and  in- 
side finishings  of  all  buildings,  even  those  made 
of  other  materials. 

Next  comes  furniture  of  all  kinds, —  chairs, 
tables,  beds,  and  all  other  house,  ofiice,  and  school 
furniture ;  musical  instruments,  pianos,  etc.,  vehicles 
of  all  kinds, —  farm  wagons,  delivery  wagons,  car- 
riages and  other  pleasure  vehicles,  including  parts 
of  automobile  bodies,  agricultural  implements, 
plows,  harrows,  harvesters,  threshing  machines  and 
other  farm  implements.  Though  these  are  built 
largely  of  iron,  yet  one- fourth  of  the  implement 
factories  report  a  use  of  215,000,000  feet  of  lumber 
a  year,  so  the  entire  output  of  these  factories  calls 
for  a  large  amount  of  wood  from  our  forests. 

Car  building  is  the  other  really  great  use  for 


56  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

lumber.  Freight  cars,  passenger  cars,  and  trolley 
cars  use  each  year  an  increasingly  large  proportion 
of  the  product  of  our  saw-mills. 

After  these  come  the  various  smaller  articles, 
which,  though  themselves  small,  are  used  in  every 
home  and  are  turned  out  in  such  vast  quantities  as 
to  require  a  very  large  amount  of  lumber  each  year. 

An  empty  spool  seems  a  trifle,  but  the  making 
of  all  the  spools  requires  the  cutting  of  hundreds 
of  acres  of  New  England's  best  birch  woods. 
Butter  dishes,  fruit  crates,  baskets,  wooden  boxes 
of  all  kinds,  tools  and  handles,  kitchen  utensils,  toys 
and  sporting  goods,  picture  molding  and  frames, 
grille  and  fretwork,  excelsior,  clothes-pins,  matches, 
tooth-picks, —  all  these  are  mowing  down  our  for- 
ests by  the  thousands  of  acres. 

The  lumber  cut  includes  all  kinds  of  both  hard 
and  soft  woods.  A  very  large  percentage  of  this 
is  of  yellow  or  southern  hard  pine,  of  which  several 
billion  feet  a  year  are  used. 

An  almost  equal  amount  is  used  for  hewn  cross- 
ties  for  railroads  and  trolley  lines.  Many  sawed 
cross-ties  are  included  in  the  item  of  lumber.  The 
hewed  cross-ties  are  made  from  young  oak-trees, 
or  from  hard-pine,  cedar  and  chestnut.  Without 
them  no  more  railroad  or  trolley  lines  could  be 
built,  and  the  present  systems  could  not  be  kept  in 
repair.     Many  other  materials  have  been  tried,  but 


FORESTS  57 

wood  is  the  only  one  that  has  ever  proved  satis- 
factory and  safe  for  this  purpose. 

The  next  largest  use  of  lumber  is  the  grinding 
of  it  into  pulp  to  be  used  in  making  paper  for  our 
books,  magazines  and  newspapers,  wrapping  papers, 
etc.  The  woods  used  for  this  purpose  are  mostly 
spruce  and  hemlock.  The  great  sources  of  supply 
of  pulp-wood  are  Maine  and  Wisconsin,  and  large 
amounts  are  imported  from  Canada,  which  greatly 
lessens  the  drain  on  our  own  forests. 

Next  in  importance  comes  cooperage  stock  for 
the  making  of  barrels.  When  we  consider  the 
many  uses  of  barrels, —  that  vinegar,  oil,  and  liquors 
are  all  shipped  in  tight  barrels,  which  are  mostly 
made  of  the  best  white  oak,  and  that  flour,  starch, 
sugar,  crackers,  fruits  and  vegetables,  glassware, 
chemicals,  and  cement  are  shipped  in  what  are  called 
slack  barrels,  made  of  various  hardwoods,  the  hoops 
being  always  of  soft  elm,  a  wood  which  is  rapidly 
disappearing,  we  can  see  the  size  and  necessity  of 
this  industry. 

Round  mine  timbers,  largely  made  of  young 
hardwood  trees,  are  used  to  support  the  mines  un- 
derground. Mining  engineers  say  that  on  an 
average  three  feet  of  lumber  are  used  in  mining 
every  ton  of  coal  taken  out.  Assuming  that  450,- 
000,000  tons  of  coal  are  mined  each  year,  this 
would  mean  that  almost  a  billion  and  a  half  feet  a 


58  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

year  are  used  in  the  coal  mines,  and  this  is  about  the 
amount  shown  by  the  government  report. 

After  this  comes  wood  for  lath  used  in  building. 
This  product  is  usually  taken  from  lower  class 
wood  or  logging  camp  waste.  Then  comes  the 
wood  for  distillation  into  wood-alcohol  for  use  in 
manufacture  and  to  furnish  power  in  engines. 

Next  in  quantity  used  comes  veneer,  which  has 
two  entirely  different  uses.  The  highest  grade 
woods  are  cut  to  about  one-twentieth  of  an  inch 
and  glued  to  cheaper  woods  as  an  outside  finish  in 
the  making  of  furniture.  The  other  use  is  for  ve- 
neer used  alone,  when  a  very  thin  wood  is  desired. 
This  is  employed  for  butter  dishes,  berry  baskets, 
crates,  boxes  and  barrels. 

Next  on  the  list  come  poles  —  electric  railway, 
electric  light,  telegraph,  and  telephone  poles.  Every 
pole  that  is  erected  for  any  of  these  purposes,  every 
extension  of  the  service,  and  all  replacing  caused 
by  wind  or  decay,  means  the  cutting  of  a  tall, 
straight,  perfect  tree,  usually  cedar  or  chestnut. 
If  we  think  of  each  pole  of  the  net-work  that  covers 
the  entire  continent,  as  a  tree,  we  shall  better  real- 
ize what  our  forests  have  done  in  binding  the  na- 
tion together. 

Leather  is  stained  by  soaking  the  hides  in  a  solu- 
tion containing  the  bark  of  oak  or  hemlock.  Some- 
times  an   extract   is   made    from   chestnut   wood. 


FORESTS  59 

This  has  caused  one  of  the  most  criminal  wastes 
of  trees,  for  a  great  deal  of  timber  was  cut  down 
solely  for  the  bark,  and  the  wood  left  to  decay  in 
the  forest.  But  now,  as  the  price  of  lumber  ad- 
vances, more  of  it  is  used  each  year  and  less  left  to 
waste. 

The  bark  and  extract  of  the  quebracho,  a  South 
American  tree,  are  being  imported  for  use  in  tan- 
ning, and  are  still  further  reducing  the  drain  on  our 
own  forests. 

Turpentine  and  rosin  do  not  in  themselves  destroy 
the  forests  any  more  than  does  tapping  the  maple 
trees  for  their  sap,  but  in  the  making  of  turpentine 
trees  that  are  too  small  are  often  "  boxed "  and 
the  trees  are  easily  blown  down  by  heavy  winds  or 
are  attacked  by  insects  and  fungi.  Many  destruc- 
tive fires  also  follow  turpentining,  so  that  on  the 
whole  the  turpentine  industry  is  responsible  for 
the  destruction  each  year  of  large  areas  of  the 
southern  pine  forests.  The  methods  of  turpentin- 
ing introduced  by  the  government  result  in  the  sav- 
ing of  thirty  per  cent,  more  turpentine,  and  also 
protect  the  trees  so  that  they  may  be  used  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  and  still  be  almost  as  valuable  as  ever 
for  timber. 

Twenty  millions  of  posts  are  cut  each  year  in 
the  Lake  States  alone,  and  the  entire  number  used 
is  probably  two  or  three  times  as  great. 


6o  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

These  constitute  the  greater  uses  of  wood,  not  a 
full  and  detailed  list;  but  it  plainly  shows  that  all 
the  uses  are  not  only  desirable,  but  necessary  for 
our  comfort  and  happiness,  and  that  we  would  not 
willingly  sacrifice  one  of  them,  and  in  order  that 
this  shall  not  become  necessary,  let  us  see  what 
abuses  we  can  find  in  the  management  of  our  for- 
ests. And  here  we  find  the  most  startling  figures  of 
all. 

Great  and  important  as  is  our  list  of  products 
made  from  wood,  we  are  surprised  to  learn  that  of 
all  wood  cut  fully  two-thirds  is  wasted  in  the  for- 
ests, left  to  decay  or  burned.  The  largest  forests  are 
now  all  located  far  from  the  great  manufacturing 
regions,  and  that  means  far  from  the  lumber 
market.  The  cost  of  transportation  must  be  added 
to  every  car  of  lumber  sold.  The  freight  on  a  car- 
load of  lumber  from  the  South  to  Chicago  or  other 
points  in  the  middle  West  is  not  less  than  a  hundred 
dollars,  and  from  the  Pacific  coast  it  is  very  much 
higher. 

It  does  not  pay  to  send  low-grade  lumber  when 
the  cost  is  so  great,  and  as  there  is  no  local  market 
a  large  part  of  each  tree  is  burned.  All  the  upper 
end  of  the  trunk  and  all  branches  are  thus  de- 
stroyed, although  much  valuable  timber  is  contained 
in  them. 

At  one  mill  in  Alabama  a  pile  of  waste  wood  and 


FORESTS  6i 

branches  as  high  as  a  two-story  house  burns  night 
and  day  throughout  the  year,  and  that  is  probably 
true  of  all  the  larger  mills. 

If  the  timber  could  be  conservatively  managed 
as  are  live-stock  products,  so  that  all  the  waste 
could  be  utilized,  all  the  small  articles,  shingles, 
lath,  posts,  tan-bark  and  extract,  pulp-wood,  wood 
for  distillation  and  small  manufactured  articles 
would  be  made  by-products  of  the  larger  cuts. 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  greed  of  large  lumber 
companies  in  causing  wholesale  and  reckless  de- 
struction of  the  forests,  and  much  of  it  is  doubtless 
true,  but  the  lumber  companies  cite  the  fact  that 
no  farmer  will  gather  a  crop  of  corn  which  will  not 
pay  for  the  labor  cost  of  gathering,  and  say  that 
at  the  present  prices  of  lumber  they  can  not  pay 
the  present  freight  rates  to  the  factories.  It  seems 
therefore  that  a  certain  amount  of  waste  is  un- 
avoidable unless  wood-working  plants  are  estab- 
lished near  the  forest  regions. 

The  first  great  step  in  conserving  our  forests  is 
to  stop  the  unnecessary  wastes  in  use.     The  next 
step  is  to  take  measures  to  prevent  the  great  de-, 
struction  of  our  forests  by  fire. 

Those  who  have  never  lived  in  a  great  forest 
region  can  have  little  idea  of  the  extent  of  the 
damage  caused  by  these  great  forest  fires.  The 
loss  of  life  of  both  man  and  animals,  the  sweeping 


62  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

away  of  houses  and  crops,  the  homelessness  and 
misery  of  those  who  have  lost  everything  they  had 
saved,  are  not  to  be  taken  into  account  here,  but 
only  the  loss  of  the  forests  themselves. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  loss  by  fire  is  as  great  as 
the  entire  amount  cut  for  use  in  the  entire  United 
States.  The  National  Conservation  Committee 
reports  that  50,000,000  acres  of  woodland  are 
burned  over  yearly.  This  probably  includes  all 
burned-over  lands,  in  much  of  which  the  standing 
timber  is  not  destroyed,  but  the  saplings  and  seed- 
lings are  killed  as  well  as  the  grass  for  grazing 
and  for  the  protection  of  the  roots.  Much  land 
is  burned  over  in  this  way  year  after  year  until 
hope  of  future  growth  is  gone,  though  the  damage 
to  the  large  trees  has  not  been  great.  In  one  way 
this  loss  is  even  more  serious,  as  it  shuts  off  the 
hope  of  future  forests,  but  the  loss  of  our  full- 
grown  standing  forests  is  grave. 

In  1 89 1  this  loss  amounted  to  15,000,000  acres, 
or  nearly  forty  thousand  acres  every  day  in  the 
year.  Since  then  the  work  of  the  Forest  Service 
in  fighting  fires  and  the  great  clearing  of  the  for- 
ests, has  reduced  this  somewhat,  but  it  still  amounts 
to  no  less  than  30,000  acres  of  our  best  salable 
timber  a  day.  This  is  the  really  great  and  serious 
loss  of  the  forests. 
I  All  the  wood  that  is  used  goes  to  make  our  coun- 


FORESTS  63 

try  a  better  place  to  live  in,  to  make  its  people  more 
comfortable  and  happy,  but  all  that  is  lost  by  fire 
is  a  loss  to  all  the  nation  in  comforts  for  the  future, 
and  in  the  present  it  means  high  prices  for  lumber 
because  our  forests  are  disappearing  so  rapidly: 

And  we  are  letting  them  burn  at  the  rate  of  thirty 
thousand  acres  every  day!  More  than  enough  to 
supply  all  our  needs.  If  any  one  could  gather  to- 
gether in  one  vast  pile  our  houses  and  barns,  our 
furniture,  our  wagons  and  carriages,  our  farm  im- 
plements, all  our  home  conveniences,  our  railroad 
cross-ties,  our  trolley  and  telephone  poles,  our 
papers  and  magazines,  and  burn  them  all,  the  whole 
world  would  be  roused  by  the  fearfulness  of  the 
loss.  But  we  sit  idly  by  and  see  the  materials  of 
which  all  these  things  are  made  and  must  be  made 
in  the  future,  and  with  them  our  shade,  our  water- 
sheds, the  soil  of  the  forest-lands  itself  destroyed, 
with  never  a  word  of  protest. 

In  a  paper  prepared  for  the  National  Conserva- 
tion Congress,  it  was  stated  that  in  some  years 
government  survey  parties  were  unable  to  work  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains  for  whole  seasons  on  ac- 
count of  the  dense  smoke,  and  the  fires  were  al- 
lowed to  bum  till  the  snows  of  winter  put  them 
out.  The  writer  further  stated  that  he  believed 
from  observation  that  the  Forest  Service,  by  check- 
ing fires  in  their  beginning,  has  in  the  last  few 


64  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

years  saved  more  timber  than  has  been  used  for 
commercial  purposes. 

I  Edvate  owners  of,  large  tracts  should  be  com- 
pelled to  use  the  same  care  in  preventing  fires  that 
is  exercised  by  the  government.  This  care,  and 
the  breaking  up  of  the  forests  into  smaller  tracts 
by  clearing  the  land  in  alternate  sections  would 
soon  reduce  the  fire  loss  so  greatly  as  almost  to 
save  us  from  anxiety  for  the  future  of  our  timber 
lands. 

The  next  great  loss  to  the  forests  is  from  in- 
sects. When  insects  have  bored  into  wood  it  be- 
comes honey-combed  by  the  canals  cut  by  the  little 
insects  and  is  utterly  valueless.  The  loss  to  fruit 
and  forest  trees  will  be  taken  up  more  fully  in  the 
chapter  on  insects.  At  present  it  is  only  necessary, 
in  order  to  show  how  much  our  forests  suffer  in 
this  way,  to  state  that  the  yearly  loss  from  this 
cause  is  placed  at  no  less  than  $100,000,000  a  year, 
and  the  loss  to  fruits  is  counted  at  one-fifth  of  the 
entire  crop.  Some  slight  idea  of  the  danger  to 
our  forests  will  be  seen  by  the  simple  statement 
that  forty-one  different  species  of  insects  infest  the 
locust  tree,  eighty  the  elm,  one  hundred  and  five  the 
birch,  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  the  pine,  one 
hundred  and  seventy  the  hickory,  one  hundred  and 
eighty-six  the  willow,  while  oak  trees  are  at- 
tacked by  over  five  hundred ! 


FORESTS  65 

This  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  control  and  can 
perhaps  never  be  entirely  checked.  Some  remedies 
will  be  suggested  later,  and  by  having  smaller  for- 
ests, more  carefully  watched,  some  personal  care 
can  be  given  to  the  trees.  In  Germany  the  trees 
are  as  closely  watched  as  are  other  crops,  and  the 
saving  in  value  well  repays  this  extra  care  and  ex- 
pense. 

A  much  smaller  loss  comes  from  the  winds  that 
sometimes  level  all  the  trees  over  many  square 
miles.  This  can  not,  of  course,  be  prevented,  ex- 
cept possibly  in  the  turpentine  forests,  but  care 
should  be  taken  to  use  all  the  wood,  never  allowing 
it  to  decay  where  it  fell,  and  also  to  replant  the  land 
with  trees,  unless  it  is  fitted  for  agriculture. 

A  great  saving  of  the  forests  may  be  effected  by 
what  is  called  preservative  treatment,  which  con- 
sists of  treating  railroad  ties,  piling,  mine  timbers, 
poles,  and  posts  with  creosote  or  zinc  chlorid  to 
prevent  decay  from  the  moisture  of  the  ground 
or  from  injury  by  salt-water  borers.  The  use  of 
creosote  is  almost  double  the  cost  of  zinc  chlorid, 
but  it  is  much  more  effective  and  durable.  A  fence 
post  can  be  treated  with  creosote  for  about  ten 
cents,  a  railroad  tie  for  twenty  cents,  and  a  tele- 
phone pole  for  from  seventy-five  cents  to  a  dollar. 
In  every  case  the  timber  treated  will  last  twice  as 
long  as  it  would   without  such  treatment  and  in 


66  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

view  of  the  present  high  prices  it  is  bad  business 
policy  to  use  timber  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  need 
replacing  soon.  It  is  estimated  that  if  all  timbers 
which  could  be  profitably  treated  were  so  cared  for, 
it  would  mean  a  money  saving  to  the  owners  of 
$47,000,000,  and  an  annual  saving  in  wood  equal  to 
4,000,000,000  board  feet  of  lumber. 

The  next  point  in  the  conservation  of  the  for- 
ests is  to  seek  substitutes  to  take  the  place  of  wood. 
There  are  many  uses  of  wood  which  nothing  else 
will  satisfactorily  supply.  For  example,  no  rail- 
road cross-tie  has  ever  been  designed  of  other  ma- 
terial that  does  not  increase  the  danger  of  railway 
accidents,  though  over  two  hundred  kinds  have 
been  patented. 

There  is  nothing  that  will  take  the  place  of  wood 
in  furniture,  and  in  many  small  articles.  Some 
articles  might  be  replaced  in  metal,  but  it  makes 
them  too  heavy  or  too  expensive.  But  in  certain 
lines  there  is  an  excellent  opportunity  to  use  other 
materials  to  great  advantage. 

Cars  are  now  being  built  of  steel,  and  of  com- 
binations of  metal  with  asbestos.  These  are  not 
yet  entirely  satisfactory,  but  it  is  hoped  that  they 
can  be  perfected  soon.  Cement  and  concrete  are 
taking  the  place  of  wood  to  a  great  extent  in  build- 
ing, and  their  use  will  doubtless  increase  rapidly. 

When  veneer  is  used  for  barrels  and  boxes  it  af- 


FORESTS  67 

fords  a  saving  of  nearly  two-thirds  in  the  amount 
of  wood  required.  This  is  a  line  of  use  where 
cheaper  substitutes  should  always  be  used  if  pos- 
sible, because  a  package  is  usually  used  only  once, 
never  more  than  twice,  and  then  discarded,  so  that 
the  wood  is  put  to  little  real  service  compared  with 
other  wooden  articles. 

When  possible,  small  articles  of  wood  should  be 
made  only  in  a  forest  region  or  near  saw-mills  to 
use  the  scraps  and  save  an  unnecessary  drain  on  the 
more  valuable  grades  of  lumber. 

One  of  the  most  important  lines  in  which  sub- 
stitutes are  practicable  is  in  the  making  of  paper 
and  box-board  or  pasteboard.  The  latter  is  some- 
times called  strawboard,  because  it  is  made  from 
wheat  straw,  and  where  it  is  manufactured,  uses  a 
large  amount  of  straw  that  would  otherwise  be 
wasted,  but  the  great  wheat  fields  of  the  West  still 
have  immense  quantities  of  unused  straw,  which, 
if  made  into  strawboard,  would  not  only  bring 
more  prosperity  to  that  region  but  would  lessen  the 
drain  on  the  forests. 

A  box  bound  with  wire  and  made  of  corrugated 
paper  now  takes  the  place  for  many  light  articles  of 
the  wooden  packing-case.  The  strawboard  also 
takes  the  place  of  wood-pulp  for  smaller  paper 
boxes.  Rice-straw,  hemp,  flax-straw,  cotton  fiber 
and  peat  have  all  been  tested  in  a  small  way  and 


68  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

found  to  make  excellent  paper,  and  it  is  thought 
corn-stalks  can  also  be  used,  but  none  of  these  is 
now  manufactured  in  the  United  States  on  a  large 
scale.  This  is  largely  because  the  price  of  pulp- 
wood  is  low,  and  the  cost  of  experimenting  with 
new  materials  is  great  with  the  results  uncertain. 

This  brings  us  to  the  last  one  of  our  preventive 
measures  for  the  decline  of  our  forests,  the  one 
which  needs  the  most  careful  attention  of  all  —  the 
replanting  of  the  lands  that  are  not  fitted  for  agri- 
culture, and  planting  trees  about  houses  and  unoc- 
cupied spaces. 

Many  farmers  have  planted  orchards  on  a  part 
of  their  farm-lands  and  many  trees  have  been 
planted  in  town  and  country,  but  until  a  few  years 
ago  there  was  no  organized  effort  to  plant  trees. 

Now  many  states  have  set  apart  a  day  which  is 
called  Arbor  Day,  for  this  purpose,  but  in  no  state 
does  it  hold  so  important  a  place  as  it  should.  It 
is  observed  by  the  schools  but  not  by  the  general 
public. 

In  Germany  there  are  regular  tree-planting^dajs 
in  which  all  the  people  take  part.  Every  one  who 
is  not  too  poor  —  and  he  must  be  poor  indeed  — 
plants  a  tree  in  his  own  garden,  or  in  front  of  his 
home,  in  the  forest  or  in  the  highway;  for  himself 
or  for  the  general  good. 

Each  child  plants  a  tree  on  his  or  her  birthday 


FORESTS  69 

every  year,  and  watches  and  cares  for  it  as  it  grows. 
The  roadsides  are  hned  with  fruit  or  nut  or  flower- 
ing trees  which  have  been  planted  in  neat,  orderly 
rows.  These  things  are  in  striking  contrast  to 
the  observance  of  Arbor  Day  in  this  country, 
where  one  tree  suffices  for  an  entire  school,  or  at 
best  each  class  has  a  tree  of  its  own.  It  is  all  a 
matter  of  enthusiasm  and  education. 

In  considering  the  best  trees  for  planting  we 
come  to  the  last  great  use  of  trees  of  which  we 
have  not  spoken.  Fruit  and  nut  trees  supply  us 
with  large  quantities  of  the  most  wholesome  and 
delicious  food.  The  apple,  pear,  peach,  plum,  and 
cherry  grow  in  the  central  part  of  the  United  States, 
and  oranges,  lemons,  figs,  olives  and  apricots  in 
the  warmer  parts. 

By  planting  these  trees  in  suitable  places  one  may 
have  a  rich  harvest  for  many  years  to  come.  If 
a  small  fraction  of  the  seeds  of  fruit  trees  which 
are  wasted  each  year  were  planted,  the  general  food 
supply  would  be  greatly  increased,  and  many  bene- 
fits would  be  derived  from  the  trees  themselves. 

Have  you  ever  heard  the  story  of  *'  Apple-seed 
John,"  the  man  who,  according  to  tradition,  went 
through  what  is  now  western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio 
and  Indiana  while  the  country  was  still  a  wilderness 
and  planted  orchards  for  the  settlers  who,  he  was 
sure,  would  come  later? 


70  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

So  many  stories  have  been  told  of  him  that  it  is 
hard  to  discover  how  much  of  the  tale  is  really 
true.  At  least  one  poem  has  been  written  about 
him,  and  the  Reverend  Newell  Dwight  Hillis  has 
woven  the  facts  and  fancies  of  his  career  into  a 
charming  book,  The  Quest  of  John  Chapman. 

The  story  is  that  he  spent  his  winters  in  the  set- 
tlements near  the  Atlantic  coast  teaching  the  chil- 
dren or  working  at  small  tasks  about  the  farms, 
and  taking  his  pay  always  in  the  seeds  of  apples, 
peaches,  pears,  plums,  and  grapes.  The  farmers 
and  their  families  saved  all  their  seeds  for  him  and 
when  spring  came  he  filled  his  boat  with  seeds  and 
started  down  the  Ohio  River.  When  he  reached 
a  suitable  landing-place  he  took  his  bags  of  seeds 
on  his  back  and  trudged  through  the  forest. 

Whenever  he  came  to  an  open  space  he  planted 
an  orchard,  built  a  fence  of  boughs  about  it,  and 
started  on  again.  And  so  he  traveled  on  and  on, 
through  all  the  spring  and  summer  months,  year 
after  year,  planting  his  seeds  for  those  who  would 
come  after  him,  until  he  grew  too  old  to  work. 

The  first  settlers  in  those  states  found  the  orchards 
and  vineyards  awaiting  them,  and  a  few  trees  are 
still  standing  that  are  said  to  have  been  planted  by 
Apple-Seed  John.  The  story  of  this  man  who  in 
his  humble  way  devoted  his  life  to  others  is  one 
that  may  well  be  told  and  imitated,  for  while  none 


FORESTS  71 

of  us  can  do  the  work  he  did,  it  may  inspire  us  with 
a  wish  to  make  some  spot  on  earth  better  by  plant- 
ing our  few  seeds  or  plants. 

In  carrying  on  this  work  in  the  schools  as  well 
as  by  the  general  public,  a  regular  plan  should  be 
followed.  Much  can  be  accomplished  with  no  ex- 
pense at  all,  even  in  cities.  In  all  cases  the  expense 
will  be  very  small  compared  to  the  good  accom- 
plished. 

Seeds  may  be  planted  and  later  transplanted. 
This  will  require  no  expense  and  little  labor.  Every 
child,  large  and  small,  in  city  and  country,  can 
learn  to  do  this  work  and  can  thus  perfonn  a  real 
service.  Small  saplings  which  are  growing  close 
together,  where  they  can  never  develop,  may  each 
be  planted  in  a  place  where  it  will  have  a  chance  to 
grow  into  a  thrifty  tree.  Most  farmers  would  be 
entirely  willing  to  allow  the  pupils  to  take  such  sap- 
lings from  their  wood-lots  if  the  work  were  properly 
done.  This  is  an  excellent  work  for  country 
schools  to  undertake,  both  for  the  good  it  will  ac- 
complish and  for  the  training  of  the  pupils  them- 
selves in  practical  work. 

Fruit  trees  of  suitable  size  for  planting  may  be 
had  for  about  twenty  cents  each.  Most  American 
children  could  easily  save  that  amount  from  money 
spent  on  candy,  sweetmeats  or  toys  so  as  to  have 
a  tree  ready  for  planting  on  Arbor  Day  which  would 


72  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

yield  them  fruit  as  they  grow  older,  and  be  a  source 
of  pride  and  pleasure.  Such  trees  will  of  course 
usually  be  planted  at  the  children's  own  homes,  but 
it  would  be  an  excellent  idea  to  follow  the  German 
plan  of  planting  pubHc  orchards  just  outside  the 
town.  When  the  trees  are  old  enough  to  bear, 
the  children  are  allowed  on  certain  days  to  go  and 
gather  and  eat  the  fruit  and  carry  it  home  in 
baskets. 

The  older  boys  in  every  school,  whether  city  or 
country,  should  be  taught  to  plant  and  transplant 
trees  in  the  best  way.  The  following  directions 
for  the  work  are  sent  out  by  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  at  Washington: 

"  The  proper  season  for  planting  is  not  every- 
where the  same.  When  the  planting  is  done  in 
the  spring,  the  right  time  is  when  the  frost  is  out 
of  the  ground  and  before  budding  begins. 

"The  day  to  plant  is  almost  as  important  as  the 
season.  Sunny,  windy  weather  is  to  be  avoided. 
Cool,  damp  days  are  the  best.  Trees  can  not  be 
thrust  carelessly  into  a  rough  soil  and  then  be  ex- 
pected to  flourish.  They  should  be  planted  in 
properly  worked  soil,  well  enriched.  If  they  can 
not  be  planted  immediately  after  they  are  taken  up 
the  first  step  is  to  prevent  their  roots  drying  out  in 
the  air.  This  may  be  done  by  piling  fresh  dirt  deep 
about  the  roots  or  setting  the  roots  in  mud. 


FORESTS  73 

"  In  planting  they  should  be  placed  from  two  to 
three  inches  deeper  than  they  stood  originally. 
Fine  soil  should  always  be  pressed  firmly  —  not 
made  hard  —  about  the  roots,  and  two  inches  of 
dry  soil  at  the  top  should  be  left  very  loose  to  re- 
tain the  moisture." 

The  reading  of  such  poems  as  Lucy  Larcom's 
"  He  who  plants  a  tree  plants  a  hope,"  or  William 
Cullen  Bryant's,  "  Come,  let  us  plant  the  apple 
tree,"  and  suitable  talks  or  papers  on  trees,  dealing 
with  their  kinds  and  uses,  on  the  benefits  of  for- 
ests, and  on  practical  forestry,  should  be  a  part  of 
the  Arbor  Day  exercises. 

In  many  communities  a  tract  of  land  which  is 
not  well  suited  for  general  agriculture  may  be  ob- 
tained for  the  benefit  of  the  school,  and  some  simple 
work  in  forestry  may  be  undertaken  by  the  pupils. 
Sometimes  a  farmer  may  be  induced  to  give  a 
small  bit  of  waste  land  where  the  experiment  may 
be  tried.  Sometimes  such  land  can  be  bought  by 
the  school  in  one  of  the  following  ways: 

A  series  of  entertainments  may  be  given  by  the 
pupils,  the  proceeds  to  be  applied  to  the  buying 
of  the  land,  and  the  pupils  may  also  obtain  money 
in  other  outside  ways  to  bring  to  the  general  fund. 
If  only  one  acre  can  be  bought  and  cleared  by  the 
pupils,  and  properly  planted,  a  little  at  a  time, 
a  tree   for  each  child's  birthday,  or  by  obtaining 


74  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

small  seedlings  and  saplings  from  the  forest,  it 
will  be  a  source  of  keen  interest,  and  will  give 
an  added  pleasure  to  the  school  work.  Watching 
the  growth  of  the  trees  and  caring  for  them  will 
keep  this  interest  alive  year  after  year,  and  in  time 
it  will  become  a  valuable  property  belonging  to  the 
school.  Sometimes  the  school  officials  will  set  a^ide 
a  sum  from  the  public  money  to  purchase  the  land. 
In  one  High  School,  one  acre  is  thus  bought  each 
year,  and  every  pupil  in  the  senior  year  gives  and 
plants  a  tree.  Sometimes  the  farmers  or  the  mer- 
chants of  a  community  may  unite  in  buying  the  land, 
which  will,  of  course,  become  public  property,  and 
set  it  aside  for  improvement  after  the  manner,  of  a 
city  park. 

Sometimes  women's  clubs  become  interested  in 
such  a  movement  and  will  raise  the  funds  neces- 
sary for  beginning  it.  It  then  becomes  the  duty 
of  the  school,  year  after  year,  to  plant  and  care 
for  the  land.  After  a  time  the  school  will  have 
a  valuable  property  to  sell,  or  can  have  a  yearly 
income  from  the  sale  of  timber. 

Such  plans  may  be  carried  out  in  many  schools. 
Every  school  can  and  should  do  something  to  for- 
ward this  great  work.  All  school  yards  should  be 
well  planted  and  care  taken  that  the  boy  with  a 
new  knife  does  not  try  it  on  the  bark  or  that  the 
bark  is  not  rubbed  from  the  trees  in  careless  play. 


FORESTS  75 

Many  trees  planted  in  school  yards  have  been  de- 
stroyed in  this  way. 

But  we  shall  not  be  safe  if  only  the  schools  plant 
trees.  Farmers  and  lot  owners  should  take  up  the 
work  in  earnest,  adding  as  many  trees  as  possible 
each  year.  In  this  way  they  could  insure  an 
abundant  supply  of  fruit,  nuts  and  timber  for  the 
future,  could  increase  the  value  of  their  property, 
and  provide  a  steady  income  besides. 

Farmers'  institutes  would  find  this  a  most 
important  work  to  undertake,  arranging  for  a 
common  plan  to  be  carried  out  in  an  entire  neigh- 
borhood, and  setting  aside  days  in  which  all  the 
members  may  work  together  to  set  out  trees  by  the 
roadsides.  This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  what 
kinds  of  trees  are  best  to  plant. 

For  town  or  city  lots,  fruit  trees  should  always 
be  chosen,  because  they  bear  in  a  short  time  and 
will  add  to  the  family  food  supply,  and  so  lessen 
the  cost  of  living  and  increase  the  variety  of  food. 
Every  farm  should  have  a  good  assortment  of  fruit. 
Any  nurseryman's  catalogue  will  furnish  lists  of 
kinds  so  that  a  wise  choice  may  be  made.  In  se- 
lecting fruit  trees,  great  care  should  be  taken  to 
choose  the  best  varieties. 

For  streets  and  roadsides,  nut  or  wild  fruit  trees 
are  best,  for  the  trees  are  generally  graceful  in 
appearance  and  will  yield  some  return,  as  the  more 


ye  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

popular  maples  and  poplars  will  not.  The  chest- 
nut is  one  of  the  best  trees  for  such  planting,  though 
it  is  of  a  rather  slow  growth.  English  or  Ameri- 
can walnuts,  pecans,  mulberry  and  persimmon  trees 
can  be  grown  in  most  parts  of  the  United  States. 

One  town  in  Kansas  is  planting  fruit  trees  on 
all  its  streets,  so  that  in  a  few  years  there  will  be 
an  abundance  of  fruit  free  to  every  passer-by. 
This  is  a  most  excellent  plan,  but  individuals  would 
be  likely  to  find  the  fruit  molested  if  only  a  few 
trees  are  planted  in  a  community. 

Barn-lots  and  lanes  should  be  planted  with  wild 
cherry,  haws,  elder,  dogwood,  mountain-ash,  and 
other  wild  fruits  to  serve  as  food  for  birds,  poultry, 
and  hogs. 

Where  the  banks  of  streams  need  to  be  protected 
from  erosion,  probably  the  best  tree  for  planting 
is  the  basket  willow,  which  thrives  well  near  the 
water,  has  a  heavy  network  of  roots,  and  is  val- 
uable for  weaving  into  baskets  and  furniture. 

For  all  hillsides  and  rocky  places,  as  well  as 
wood-lots,  the  hardwoods  which  sell  best  for  tim- 
ber should  be  planted  in  the  North  and  West,  and 
the  evergreens  near  the  sea-coasts  and  in  the  South. 
Forests  of  oak,  hickory,  walnut,  maple  (especially 
the  sugar  maple,  which  yields  a  steady  return  dur- 
ing the  lifetime  of  the  tree),  elm,  chestnut,  and 
locust  will  sell  for  a  good  price,  and  are  always 


FORESTS  77 

salable.  It  requires  many  years  to  grow  large  tim- 
ber, but  by  proper  management  several  years  can 
be  gained  in  its  growth,  and  it  is  always  a  valuable 
investment  for  a  farmer  to  make  for  his  children. 

Not  individuals  only,  but  states  and  the  national 
government  as  well,  should  provide  forests  for  the 
future,  and  this  is  the  greatest  duty  of  all,  for  much 
of  the  most  important  work  can  only  be  done  by 
a  power  that  can  control  the  entire  watershed  at 
the  head-waters  of  a  river-system. 

For  example,  the  Appalachian  Mountains  are  the 
source  of  hundreds  of  streams  which  flow  east, 
west  and  south,  and  pass  through  many  states. 
These  mountains  were  originally  covered  with  a 
heavy  forest  growth,  but  they  belong  largely  to 
private  companies  who  are  cutting  the  forests  at 
a  rapid  rate. 

The  effect  of  this  is  seen  in  bare  hillsides,  washed 
by  mountain  torrents  which  are  causing  disastrous 
floods  on  the  lowlands,  filling  up  the  streams,  and 
carrying  away  much  of  the  most  fertile  soil  of 
some  of  the  southeastern  states,  and  in  the  drying 
up  of  the  small  tributaries. 

This  can  not  be  remedied  by  single  companies 
nor  by  the  states  that  suffer  most.  The  only  rem- 
edy is  for  the  government  to  buy  the  land  at  the 
head-waters  of  the  rivers  and  reforest  it.  The 
same  conditions  on  a  smaller  scale  are  to  be  found 


78  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

in  every  mountainous  region  where  the  forests  are 
cut  away. 

The  United  States  owns  a  large  amount  of  for- 
est but  not  nearly  enough  to  insure  a  supply  of 
wood  for  the  future.  The  public  forest  lands  are 
nearly  all  in  the  West.  They  consist  of  national 
forests,  national  parks,  Indian  and  military  reserva- 
tions and  land  open  to  entry  as  timber  claims.  ^lu.. 
all  they  contain  nearly  100,000,000  acres,  or  about 
'  half  as  much  as  is  contained  in  farmers'  wood-lots 
and  about  one- fourth  as  much  as  the  amount  owned 
by  large  lumber  companies. 

The  United  States,  on  its  public  domain,  is  set- 
ting about  a  careful  system  of  cutting  and  replant- 
ing. This  system  is  known  as  forestry.  It  has 
been  worked  out  by  some  of  the  more  advanced 
nations  of  Europe  who  saw  that  destruction  was 
coming  on  them  through  the  cutting  away  of  their 
forests.  Now  forestry  is  practised  by  every  nation 
except  Turkey  and  China.  The  principles  have 
been  well  proved  and  the  results  of  scientific  care 
of  the  forests  are  known  to  be  even  more  sure  than 
in  farming  or  live-stock  raising. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  will  send  com- 
plete directions  for  planting  trees  in  rows  at  proper 
distances,  will  tell  what  kinds  are  best  suited  to 
each  region  and  condition,  how  to  make  them  grow 
rapidly,  and  when  to  cut.     All  these  things  should 


FORESTS  79 

be  thoroughly  understood  by  every  land  owner, 
large  or  small,  but  at  present  forestry  is  practised 
on  only  one  per  cent,  of  all  land  in  this  country, 
owned  by  private  persons  or  companies,  though  it 
is  practised  on  seventy  per  cent,  of  all  public  lands. 

The  countries  that  show  the  best  results  in  for- 
estry are  some  of  the  Grerman  states,  particularly 
Prussia  and  Saxony,  and  France.  In  Prussia  the 
rate  of  production  is  three  times  as  great  as  it  was 
seventy-five  years  ago.  There  is  three  times  as 
much  saw  timber  in  a  tree  as  there  was  at  that 
time,  and  the  money  returns  from  an  average  acre 
of  forest  are  now  nearly  ten  times  what  they  were 
sixty  years  ago.  In  Saxony  the  state  forests  are 
receiving  two  dollars  and  thirty  cents  per  acre  a 
year  above  all  expenses  from  forests  on  land  not 
fitted  for  agriculture,  and  the  profit  is  increasing 
every  year. 

France  and  Germany  together  spend  $11,000,000 
a  year  on  their  public  forests  and  receive  from  them 
an  income  of  $30,000,000,  or  nearly  three  times  as 
much,  while  the  United  States  spends  for  its  pub- 
lic forests  more  than  ten  times  as  much  as  it  re- 
ceives. 

Many  of  our  states  are  taking  an  active  interest 
in  forestry  and  are  buying  tracts  of  land  of  low 
value  for  state  forests.  New  York  is  taking  the 
lead  in  the  work  of  planting  forests,  but  even  here" 


8o  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

the  amount  done  is  much  less  than  it  should  be. 
The  state  forester  says  that  one  milHon  trees  are 
planted  each  year  while  twenty  millions  should  be 
planted.  '    ~~ 

The  National  Conservation  Commission  reported 
that  the  entire  United  States  should  plant  an  area 
larger  than  the  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
West  Virginia,  in  order  to  supply  our  future  needs, 
but  that  we  have  actually  planted  an  area  less  than 
the  state  of  Rhode  Island. 

This,  then,  is  the  lesson  we  should  learn  in  re- 
gard to  our  forests:  To  guard  against  waste  in 
cutting  and  use,  fire,  and  insects,  and  to  plant  trees 
until  our  future  supply  of  timber  is  assured,  till 
the  head-waters  of  our  streams  are  protected  and 
our  waste  lands  made  into  valuable  forest  tracts; 
till  every  farm  has  its  wood-lot,  and  every  com- 
munity its  fruit  and  shade.  It  is  a  work  in  which 
every  one  of  us  may  take  some  part  and  from 
which  good  results  are  certain  to  come. 

ORCHARDS 

Another  phase  of  tree-culture  that  does  not, 
strictly  speaking,  come  under  the  head  of  forestry, 
but  which  should  be  considered  here,  is  the  cultiva- 
tion of  orchards,  either  for  home  use  or  for  com- 
mercial purposes. 

In  a  few  sections,  fruit  is  the  most  valuable  of 


FORESTS  8i 

all  crops.  Oranges  in  Florida  and  California, 
peaches  in  some  of  the  southern  states,  and  apples 
in  the  northwest,  are  more  profitable  than  any  field 
crops,  and  their  cultivation  is  made  the  subject  of 
careful  scientific  study.  But  there  are  many  other 
states  where  the  raising  of  fruit  in  commercial  quan- 
tities is  almost  altogether  neglected,  and  to  which 
almost  all  fruit  is  shipped  from  other  sections. 
This  is  particularly  true  in  the  rich  corn  and  wheat 
producing  states  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

The  early  settlers  each  planted  an  orchard  for 
home  use,  and  these  produced  the  finest  quality  of 
fruit  in  abundance;  but  usually,  after  being  planted, 
the  trees  were  left  to  take  care  of  themselves,  while 
the  farmer's  time  and  attention  were  given  to  his 
fields  of  grain. 

As  time  passed,  plant  diseases  and  insect  pests 
increased,  winds  broke  down  many  of  the  unpruned 
trees,  frosts  often  blighted  the  entire  crop  of  fruit, 
and  the  uncultivated,  sod-choked  trees  produced 
fruit  that  was  less  in  quantity  and  poorer  in  quality 
each  year. 

In  recent  years  the  highest  grade  of  apples  have 
all  been  shipped  from  the  West.  These  are  grown 
on  irrigated  land;  a  high  price  being  paid  both  for 
the  land  itself  and  for  the  water-privilege,  and  the 
orchards  are  seldom  more  than  ten  acres  in  extent. 
Wind  and  frost  may  cause  as  much  damage  here 


82  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

as  in  the  eastern  states  and  plant  diseases  and  insect 
enemies  are  equally  liable  to  injure  the  crop. 

But  here  orcharding  is  carried  on  in  a  scientific 
manner.  The  small  size  of  the  orchard  makes  it 
possible  for  the  owner  properly  to  care  for  every 
tree,  and  each  one  must  be  made  a  source  of  profit. 
Every  condition  that  tends  to  affect  the  crop  is 
careftdly  studied,  and  the  remedy  found  and  ap- 
plied. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  same  care  and  labor 
should  not  produce  equally  good  results  with  far 
less  expense  in  the  well-watered  regions  of  the 
eastern  and  central  part  of  the  United  States.  The 
gfiglected  orchard  will  prove  a  failure  anywhere, 
c^^.^surely  as  will  a  neglected  garden,  and  success 
will  come  only  by  giving  to  fruit  the  same  intelli- 
gent care  that  would  be  bestowed  upon  any  other 
crop. 

The  cultivation  of  apples  should  receive  particu- 
lar attention  in  the  north  central  states,  because  they 
have  great  food  value,  are  not  perishable,  can  be 
shipped  long  distances,  and  the  demand,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  is  always  greater  than  the  supply. 
The  home  orchard,  however,  should  contain  many 
kinds  of  fruit,  and  the  same  general  rules  in  regard 
■to  the  care  of  the  orchard  apply  to  all  of  them. 

First,  the  orchard  should  not  be  located  on  land 
that  is  fitted  to  produce  the  best  farm  crops,  but  it 


FORESTS  83 

must  not  be  too  steep  and  hilly  to  be  cultivated.  A 
sunny  sloping  hillside  is  best  suited  to  orchard 
crops. 

In  most  cases  little  fertilization  is  needed  except 
the  planting  of  clover  or  some  other  leguminous 
crop.  If  corn  be  planted  in  young  orchards,  as  is 
often  the  case,  potash  should  be  used  as  a  fertilizer 
after  the  crop  is  gathered,  since  both  corn  and 
fruit  trees  draw  very  heavily  on  the  potash  in  the 
soil. 

Old  orchards  sometimes  need  a  single  application 
of  a  general  fertilizer  containing  all  the  principal 
soil  elements.  All  fertilizers  should  be  applied  not 
merely  around  the  base  of  the  trunk,  but  as  far 
from  it  as  the  tree  spreads  its  branches  in  all  di- 
rections. 

The  trees  should  be  carefully  pruned  and  special 
attention  paid  to  trimming  the  tops  low  to  prevent 
damage  from  winds,  and  also  to  make  spraying 
easy. 

The  soil  should  be  deeply  cultivated  the  first  few 
years  in  order  to  make  the  roots  strike  deep  into 
the  ground,  and  afterward  the  soil  should  receive 
some  surface  cultivation  every  year. 

When  there  is  danger  of  frost  after  the  trees 
have  bloomed,  brushwood  fires  are  lighted  and  a 
dense  smoke  is  raised  over  the  orchard  by  burning 
pots  of  crude  oil.     This  smoke  is  helpful  in  pre- 


84  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

venting  the  formation  of  frost,  and  will  often  be 
the  means  of  saving  the  crop. 

The  other  great  causes  of  failure  to  grow  large 
quantities  of  perfect  fruit,  if  the  varieties  are  well 
chosen,  are  plant  diseases  and  damage  by  insects. 
The  methods  of  their  control  are  given  in  the  chap- 
ter on  Insects,  and  include  principally  the  disposal 
of  all  decayed  fruit,  the  raking  up  and  burning  of 
all  leaves  in  infected  orchards,  arsenical  and  lime 
sprays,  and,  above  all,  such  attention  to  pruning 
and  cultivation  as  will  keep  the  trees  in  good  condi- 
tion. 

Lastly,  the  keeping  of  bees  in  the  orchard  will  pay 
well,  not  only  for  the  honey  they  produce,  but  be- 
cause they  assist  greatly  in  carrying  the  pollen  from 
flower  to  flower,  and  so  increasing  the  crop  of  fruit. 

REFERENCES 

Forests.     Report  National  Conservation  Commission. 

Forest  Conservation,  Papers  and  Discussions,  Report  Gov- 
ernor's Conference. 

Arbor  Day,  Forest  Service  Department  of  Agriculture  Cir- 
cular, 96. 

Tree  Planting  on  Rural  School  Grounds.  Forest  Service 
Department  of  Agriculture  Circular,  134. 

Practical  Assistance  to  Tree  Planters.  Forest  Service  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  Circular,  22. 

How  to  Transplant  Forest  Trees.  Forest  Service  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  Circular,  61. 

Forest  Planting  on  Coal  Lands.  Forest  Service  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  Circular,  41. 


FORESTS  85 

Forestry  in  the  Public  Schools.  Forest  Service  Department 
of  Agriculture  Circular,  130. 

Primer  of  Forestry.  (Pinchot).  Forest  Service  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  Circular,  173. 

The  Use  of  the  National  Forests.     (Pinchot.) 

What  Forestry  Has  Done.  Forest  Service  Department  of 
Agriculture  Circular,  140. 

Forest  Preservation  and  National  Prosperity.  Forest  Serv- 
ice Department  of  Agriculture  Circular,  35. 

Forest  Planting  and  Farm  Management.  Forest  Service 
Department  of  Agriculture  Circular,  228. 

Facts  and  Figures  Regarding  our  Forest  Resources.  Forest 
Service  Department  of  Agriculture  Circular,  11. 

Drain  Upon  the  Forests.  Forest  Service  Department  of 
Agriculture  Circular,  129. 

The  Waning  Hardwood  Supply.  Forest  Service  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  Circular,  129. 

Timber  Supply  of  the  United  States.  Forest  Service  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  Circular,  116. 

Forestry  and  the  Lumber  Supply.  Forest  Service  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  Circular,  97. 

How  to  Cultivate  and  Care  for  Forests  in  Semi-arid  Re- 
gions. 

Forest  Service  Department  of  Agriculture  Circular,  54. 

Paper-making  Materials  and  their  Conservation.  Bureau  of 
Chemistry,  41. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WATER 

Water  is  an  absolute  necessity  to  man,  as  much 
as  the  air  he  breathes  or  the  food  he  eats.  Water 
comes  to  us  in  the  form  of  rain  or  snow.  We 
usually  think  of  it  as  unlimited,  but  we  must  come 
to  think  of  it  as  a  resource  that  can  be  abused  and 
wasted  or  made  useful  and  profitable  as  is  the  soil 
itself. 

The  amount  of  water  is  fixed  and  passes  in  an 
endless  round  from  cloud  to  river  or  land  and 
back  to  the  clouds  again.  The  average  yearly  rain- 
fall of  the  United  States  is  estimated  at  thirty 
inches,  about  forty  inches  in  the  eastern  half,  an 
average  of  eighteen  inches  in  the  western  part,  and 
in  many  places  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  inches. 
One  inch  of  rain  would  amount  to  nearly  one  hun- 
dred and  one  tons  per  acre,  or  on  a  roof  twenty 
feet  long  by  twenty  feet  wide,  one  inch  of  rain 
would  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  gallons.  With  a 
rainfall  of  forty  inches,  this  would  amount  to 
10,000  gallons  in  a  year,  or  an  average,  over  every 
bit  of  land  twenty   feet  square,  of  twenty-seven 

86 


WATER  87 

gallons  for  every  day  in  the  year.  This  is  about 
the  quantity  that  falls  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States. 

It  varies  slightly  from  year  to  year,  but  there 
is  no  more  —  there  is  no  possible  way  of  adding 
to  it,  though  we  may  lessen  it  by  allowing  it  to 
rush  out  to  sea,  giving  no  service  to  the  land.  As 
the  land  waters  diminish  the  rainfall  also  grows 
less. 

This  two  hundred  trillions  cubic  feet  of  water 
which  falls  on  our  land  every  year  constitutes  our 
entire  water  resource,  is  the  source  of  all  our  rivers 
and  streams,  of  the  moisture  in  the  air,  of  our 
rains  and  snows,  and  our  water  for  plant  and  ani- 
mal growth. 

To  understand  how  much  this  is,  we  may  say 
that  it  is  about  equal  to  ten  times  the  amount  of 
water  that  flows  through  the  Mississippi  River  sys- 
tem. The  water  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  branches 
is  nearly  half  of  all  the  water  in  the  United  States 
that  flows  through  waterways  to  the  sea.  This 
water  that  flows  through  our  streams  is  sometimes 
called  the  run-off.  The  run-off  is  increasing  every 
year  as  we  cut  our  forests  and  cultivate  our  land. 
It  is  used  for  navigation,  irrigation  and  power,  but 
the  increase  is  not  an  advantage  for  these  purposes 
as  might  be  supposed,  because  it  comes  in  disastrous 


88  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

floods,  tearing  away  dams,  ruining  power  sites,  and 
not  only  preventing  navigation  during  the  flood 
season,  but  by  filling  up  the  rivers  and  changing 
the  channels,  making  navigation  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous throughout  the  year.  The  run-off  is  con- 
trolled to  some  extent  and  may  be  brought  under 
almost  as  complete  control  as  may  be  desired. 

As  much  as  the  water  of  five  or  six  Mississippis, 
or  a  little  more  than  half  of  our  supply,  is  evapo- 
rated to  moisten  and  temper  the  air,  to  fall  as  rain 
or  snow,  or  to  form  dews.  This  is  sometimes 
called  the  fly-off,  and  except  for  some  changes 
caused  by  management  of  the  land,  is  entirely  be- 
yond control. 

A  part  of  the  remainder  sinks  into  the  soil  below 
the  surface.  A  large  portion  of  this  helps  to  cause 
the  slow  rock-decay  that  forms  the  soil,  and  which 
is  known  as  ground  water.  It  is  estimated  that 
within  the  first  hundred  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  earth  there  is  a  quantity  of  water  that  has 
seeped  down;  and  that  would  form,  if  it  were  col- 
lected, a  vast  reservoir  sixteen  or  seventeen  feet  in 
depth  spreading  over  all  the  3,000,000  square  miles 
of  the  area  of  our  country.  This  is  equal  to  about 
seven  years'  rainfall  and  is  a  very  important  part 
of  our  water  resources.  In  many  places  it  forms 
into  underground  streams  or  lakes.  It  feeds  all 
the  springs  and  many  of  the  lakes.     Our  wells  are 


WATER  89 

dug  or  drilled  into  this  underground  water  system. 
It  carries  away  the  excess  of  salts  and  mineral 
matter  from  the  soil,  the  trees  strike  their  roots 
deep  into  the  earth  and  draw  from  it,  and  last  and 
most  important  of  all,  that  which  sinks  immediately 
below  the  surface  supplies  all  our  plant  growth. 
So  that  it  is  this  last  portion,  that  which  sinks  be- 
low the  ground,  and  which  is  sometimes  termed 
the  cut-off,  amounting  to  about  one-tenth  of  all 
our  water  resource,  or  about  the  quantity  that  flows 
through  the  Mississippi  River  system,  that  forms 
the  really  important  part. 

On  this  depends  all  that  makes  a  land  habitable, 
the  water  for  drinking  purposes  and  for  plant  and 
animal  growth.  On  it  depends  the  rate  of  produc- 
tion of  every  acre  of  farm  and  forest  land  and  the 
life  of  every  animal.  Every  full-grown  man  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  takes  into  his  sys- 
tem not  less  than  a  ton  of  water  each  year,  and 
every  bushel  of  corn  requires  for  its  making  fifteen 
or  twenty  tons  of  water. 

Of  the  importance  of  this  Professor  Chamber- 
lain says:  "The  key  to  the  problem  of  soil  con- 
servation lies  in  due  control  of  the  water  that  falls 
on  every  acre.  This  water  is  an  asset  of  great 
value.  It  should  be  counted  by  every  land  owner 
as  a  possible  value,  saved  if  turned  where  it  will 
do  good,  lost  if  permitted  to  run  away,  doubly  lost 


90  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

if  it  also  carries  away  the  soil  and  does  destructive 
work  below." 

The  uses  of  rainfall  are  given  thus: 

A  due  portion  should  go  through  the  soil  to  its 
bottom  to  promote  rock  decay.  Some  of  it  should 
go  into  the  underdrainage  to  carry  away  harmful 
matter,  another  portion  goes  up  to  the  surface  car- 
rying solutions  needed  by  the  plants.  A  portion 
goes  into  the  plants  to  nourish  them,  and  still  an- 
other part  runs  off  the  surface,  carrying  away  the 
worn-out  parts  of  the  soil. 

Crops  can  use  to  advantage  all  the  rain  that  falls 
during  the  growing  season ;  and  in  most  cases  crops 
are  all  the  better  for  all  the  water  that  can  be 
carried  over  from  the  winter.  There  are  many 
local  exceptions,  but  in  general  crops  are  best  when 
the  soil  can  be  made  to  absorb  as  much  of  the  rain- 
fall and  snowfall  as  possible.  This  also  causes  the 
least  possible  amount  of  wash  from  the  land. 

Doctor  N,  J.  McGee  says :  "  Scarcely  anywhere 
in  the  United  States  is  the  rainfall  excessive,  that 
is,  greater  than  is  needed  by  growing  plants,  liv- 
ing animals  and  men.  Nearly  everywhere  it  falls 
below  this  standard.  In  the  western  part  the  aver- 
age rainfall  is  only  about  eighteen  inches;  in  the 
extreme  eastern  part  the  fall  averages  forty-eight 
inches.  In  the  western  part  much  of  the  land  is 
unable  to  produce  crops  at  all  except  when  arti- 


WATER  91 

ficially  watered.  The  eastern  part  might  produce 
more  abundant  crops,  develop  greater  industries 
and  support  a  larger  population  with  a  rainfall  of 
sixty  inches  than  it  is  able  to  do  with  a  rainfall  of 
forty-eight  inches."  As  may  readily  be  seen,  the 
fly-off  can  be  controlled  only  in  a  very  small  de- 
gree, by  conserving  the  moisture  that  is  in  the  soil, 
and  so  preventing  it  from  evaporating  too  rapidly. 

The  cut-off  can  be  controlled  to  a  considerable 
extent  through  forestry  and  scientific  farming  and 
it  is  very  important  that  the  supply  should  be  as 
carefully  conserved  as  possible. 

But  it  is  in  the  run-off  that  the  great  waste  of 
water  occurs,  and  also  that  great  saving  is  possible. 
It  has  been  found  by  careful  estimate  that  from 
eighty-five  per  cent,  to  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the 
water  that  flows  to  the  sea  is  wasted  in  freshets  or 
destructive  floods. 

We  are  not  accustomed  to  think  of  the  water  as 
wasted,  since  it  seems  beyond  our  control,  but  as 
we  are  taking  a  careful  account  of  stock,  and  seeing 
how  our  forests,  our  fuels  and  our  minerals  are 
disappearing,  and  our  soil  being  carried  out  to  sea 
by  the  rushing  waters,  it  is  well  to  consider,  also, 
whether  this  great  resource  may  not  be  so  used  as 
to  benefit  mankind  in  many  ways  and  at  the  same 
time  lessen  the  drain  on  other  resources. 

The  water  of  streams  may  be  divided  as  to  use 


92  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

into  four  great  classes.  The  most  important  is  that 
used  by  cities  for  general  supply,  for  household  and 
drinking  purposes;  next,  that  which  is  used  for 
navigation  and  the  running  of  boats  to  carry  com- 
merce ;  third,  that  which  is  used  for  artificial  water- 
ing or  irrigation,  and  lastly,  that  which  is  used  for 
power  in  manufacturing. 

In  the  past,  when  water  has  been  used  it  has 
seldom  been  employed  for  more  than  one  of  these 
purposes,  but  as  we  come  to  understand  more  the 
nature,  value  and  possibilities  of  this  great  resource, 
we  shall  learn  to  make  the  money  spent  for  one 
of  these  lines  of  activity  supply  several  other  needs. 

As  we  study  each  of  these  separately  we  shall 
see  this  interrelation  among  them. 

The  cities  of  the  United  States  have  expended 
$250,000,000  in  waterworks  and  nearly  as  much 
more  in  land  for  reservoirs,  and  for  canals  for 
conveying  the  water  from  these  reservoirs  to  the 
cities.  The  better  managed  systems  protect  the 
drained  lands  from  erosion  by  planting  forests  or 
grass  and  the  water  is  completely  controlled,  so  that 
all  the  water,  even  the  storm  overflow,  is  saved. 
There  is  very  little  w^aste  in  these  city  water  sys- 
tems until  it  comes  to  the  consumer,  where,  except 
when  it  is  sold  through  meters,  the  waste  is  often 
great. 

The  failure  to  provide  the  greatest  good  lies  in 


WATER  93 

the  fact  that  the  water  systems  have  been  used  for 
water  supply  only  and  have  not  been  made  profitable 
in  other  ways.  The  drainage  basins  should  be  heav- 
ily planted  with  trees,  which  will  in  time  yield  a 
large  return,  or  with  hay,  which  can  be  marketed 
each  year.  Whenever  possible,  the  canals  carrying 
the  water  supply  should  also  be  used  to  furnish 
power. 

The  city  of  Los  Angeles,  when  it  had  a  popula- 
tion of  only  150,000,  undertook  to  provide  pure 
water  from  a  point  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  dis- 
tant. To  do  so  it  must  take  on  itself  a  debt  of 
$23,000,000,  a  large  sum  for  a  city  ten  times  its 
size.  Yet  the  people  were  ready  to  assume  this 
great  burden  to  insure  an  unending  supply  of  pure 
water,  for  they  realized  that  without  it  their  city 
could  not  continue  to  grow.  It  was  not  until  the 
plans  for  piping  water  to  the  city  were  almost  com- 
pleted that  the  value  of  the  water-powxr  along  the 
route  was  realized.  It  has  been  disposed  of  at  a 
rate  that  pays  ten  per  cent,  interest  on  the  debt 
each  year,  and  has  made  what  seemed  a  dangerous 
risk,  a  profitable  business  arrangement.  All  these 
other  uses  of  water  which  are  profitable,  help  to 
lower  the  price  of  water  to  the  users. 

The  matter  of  supreme  importance  in  the  water 
supply,  however,  is  not  whether  the  water  is  cheap, 
but  whether  it  is  pure.     If  refuse   from  factories 


94  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

is  allowed  to  drain  into  a  stream,  the  water  becomes 
loaded  with  poisonous  chemicals,  acids,  or  min- 
erals. If  city  sewage  or  barn-yards  are  allowed  to 
drain  into  it,  the  germs  of  typhoid  and  other  fevers 
enter  the  water  supply.  To  insure  the  purity  of 
water  supply  from  a  stream,  no  factory  waste,  city 
sewage  or  country  refuse  should  be  allowed  to  enter 
any  part  of  the  stream.  In  addition  to  this  it 
should  be  carefully  filtered. 

The  disposal  of  waste  is  a  serious  problem,  and 
the  easiest  way  is  to  divert  it  into  the  nearest  water 
course  and  trust  to  the  old  maxim,  "  Running  water 
purifies  itself." 

This,  while  true  as  a  general  fact,  has  so  many 
exceptions  that  it  is  not  safe  to  trust  to  it.  The 
Sanitary  District  Canal  of  Chicago  has  proved 
positively  that  even  the  most  heavily  germ-laden 
water  becomes  pure  by  running  many  miles  at  a 
regulated  speed  through  the  open  country,  but  the 
conditions  are  altogether  different  from  those  of  an 
ordinary  river.  First,  in  a  river,  sewage  may  enter 
at  any  point  down-stream  to  add  to  the  germs  al- 
ready present  in  the  water,  while  nothing  is  allowed 
to  enter  the  Drainage  Canal  after  it  leaves  the  city. 
Second,  some  germs  live  for  several  days  and  may 
be  carried  many  miles.  Only  a  microscopic  test 
can   prove    whether    water    contains    such    germs. 


WATER  95 

Usually  such  tests  are  not  made  and  water  is  used 
without  people  knowing  whether  it  is  pure  or  not, 
but  the  water  of  the  Sanitary  Canal  is  tested  at 
many  points  to  determine  its  purity.  Each  hour 
and  each  mile  of  its  journey  it  grows  purer.  This 
proves  that  although  running  water  does  purify  it- 
self, a  stream  that  is  drained  into  all  along  its  course 
is  not  a  fit  source  of  water  supply. 

Factory  refuse,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  pol- 
lute the  waters,  should  be  turned  to  good  use  by 
extracting  the  chemicals,  which  form  valuable  by- 
products. All  farm  waste  should  be  taken  to  a 
remote  part  of  the  farm,  placed  in  an  open  shed  or 
vat  with  cement  floor  and  screened  from  flies  to 
form  a  compost  heap  for  fertilizers  for  the  farm. 
This  will  amply  repay  the  extra  trouble  and  ex- 
pense by  increasing  the  farm  crops.  The  sooner 
such  refuse,  especially  manure,  is  returned  to  the 
land,  the  more  valuable  it  is  as  a  fertilizer. 

In  cities  the  sewage  should  be  disposed  of  in 
such  a  way  as  to  yield  a  profit  to  the  city,  and  also 
promote  the  health  of  the  people.  The  sewage  of  a 
city  of  100,000  people  is  supposed  to  be  worth,  in 
Germany,  about  $900,000  a  year  for  fertilizer  on 
account  of  the  phosphorus  it  contains.  The  city  of 
Berlin  operates  large  sewage  farms,  using  as  labor- 
ers men  condemned  to  the  wprkhouse.     Th^  ^x- 


96  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

pense  for  land  and  sewer  system  was  $13,000,000, 
but  it  pays  for  the  money  invested,  with  $60,000 
yearly  profit  over  all  expenses. 

On  the  other  hand  the  cost  of  impure  water  to 
the  city  of  Pittsburg  was  reckoned  at  $3,850,000, 
and  in  the  city  of  Albany,  New  York,  the  annual 
loss  was  estimated  at  $475,000. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  our  country  all  towns 
were  built  on  streams,  and  the  ones  which  grew  and 
flourished  were  all  on  rivers  large  enough  to  carry 
commerce  by  boat.  After  the  invention  of  steam- 
boats, daily  packet  lines  were  run  on  all  the  prin- 
cipal rivers. 

Albert  Gallatin  planned  a  complete  system  of  im- 
proved waterways,  including  many  canals,  that  was 
intended  to  establish  a  great  commercial  route. 
Many  canals  were  built  and  put  into  actual  opera- 
tion and  dozens  of  others  had  been  planned,  when 
the  building  of  railways  began.  This  new  system 
of  transportation  at  once  became  popular.  Not 
only  were  no  more  canals  dug  and  no  more  steam- 
boat lines  built,  but  many  of  those  actually  in  oper- 
ation were  abandoned. 

In  order  to  encourage  railroad  building  and  de- 
velop new  regions,  the  government  has  given  land 
and  money  to  the  extent  of  hundreds  of  millions  of 
dollars,  until  now  the  railroads  form  one-seventh 
of  all  our  national  wealth,  having  228,000  miles  of 


WATER  97 

tracks  and  earning  $2,500,000,000  each  year,  while 
the  waterways  owned  by  the  government  have  fallen 
into  disuse. 

Within  the  last  four  or  five  years  another  change 
has  come  about  in  the  general  attitude  toward  the 
waterways.  At  the  time  that  the  crops  are  moved 
in  the  fall,  and  when  coal  is  needed  for  the  winter 
supply,  there  are  not  nearly  enough  cars  in  the 
country  to  handle  the  volume  of  business,  neither 
are  there  enough  locomotives  to  move  the  necessary 
cars,  nor  tracks,  nor  stations.  In  short,  the  rail- 
ways are  entirely  unable  to  handle  the  vast  products 
of  the  country  during  the  busiest  seasons.  Many 
persons  in  the  West  have  suffered  for  fuel,  and 
commerce  has  been  greatly  checked  by  the  short- 
age; and  the  situation  is  growing  worse  each  year 
as  production  increases. 

James  J.  Hill  estimates  that  the  cost  of  equip- 
ping the  railroads  to  carry  the  commerce  of  the 
country  would  be  from  five  to  eight  billion  dollars. 
This  means  a  heavy  tax  on  iron  and  coal  and  tim- 
ber as  well  as  on  the  labor  resources  of  the  coun- 
try, and  it  would  then  be  only  a  question  of  time 
until  still  further  extensions  were  needed. 

With  these  facts  in  view,  interest  in  the  water- 
ways of  the  country  has  been  revived. 

It  is  estimated  that  it  will  require  five  hundred 
million  dollars,  or  fifty  million  dollars  a  year  for 


98  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

ten  years  completely  to  improve  the  waterways  of 
the  country.  This  is  not  more  than  one-tenth  of 
what  would  be  needed  to  equip  the  railroads.  The 
cost  of  carrying  freight  by  rail  is  from  four  to  five 
times  that  of  carrying  it  by  water. 

Much  of  the  heavy  freight  of  the  country, —  coal, 
iron,  grain  and  lumber, —  should  be  carried  in  this 
way,  in  order  to  reduce  freight  rates  and  so,  indi- 
rectly, the  cost  to  the  people,  and  further  to  relieve 
the  burden  on  the  railways. 

The  railways,  it  might  be  added,  would  still  have 
a  large  and  increasing  package-freight  business,  be- 
sides the  handling  of  heavy  freight  in  parts  of  the 
country  where  there  are  no  navigable  rivers. 

For  these  reasons  it  would  seem  clearly  the  only 
wise  policy  to  adopt  a  general  plan  for  waterway 
improvement  and  carry  it  into  effect  at  once.  But 
there  are  many  things  to  be  considered. 

Millions  of  dollars  (in  all  about  five  hundred  and 
fifty-two  millions)  have  been  spent  for  the  im- 
provement of  waterways.  Some  of  it  has  resulted 
in  great  gain,  but  a  large  part  of  it  has  been  wasted 
through  lack  of  an  organized  plan.  Work  has  been 
begun  and  not  enough  money  appropriated  to  finish 
it.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  much  of  the  value 
of  the  work  is  destroyed  by  the  action  of  the  cur- 
rent or  by  shifting  sands,  or  if  a  stretch  of  river 
is  finished  in  the  most  approved  manner,  often  it 


WATER  99 

is  not  used  much,  in  some  cases  actually  less  after 
than  before  the  work  was  begun,  and  these  things 
have  created  a  prejudice  against  waterway  improve- 
ments. 

The  other  reason  is  that  in  spite  of  the  over- 
crowding of  the  railroads,  the  traffic  on  many  of 
our  large  rivers  is  steadily  growing  less.  The  In- 
land Waterways  Commission  finds  as  a  reason  for 
the  decrease,  the  relations  existing  between  the  rail- 
ways and  the  waterways.  A  railway,  they  consider, 
has  two  classes  of  advantages.  First,  those  that 
come  from  natural  conditions.  A  railroad  line  can 
be  built  in  any  direction  to  any  part  of  the  coun- 
try except  the  extremely  mountainous  parts,  while 
a  river  runs  only  in  a  single  direction. 

If  a  new  region  distant  from  a  large  water  course 
is  opened  up,  as  is  being  done  rapidly  in  the  West 
through  irrigation  and  dry  farming,  the  people  are 
entirely  dependent  on  the  railways  to  develop  it,  to 
bring  them  all  the  conveniences  of  the  outside  world, 
and  to  carry  the  products  of  their  land  to  the  market. 

Branch  lines  and  switches  can  be  built  to  fac- 
tories and  warehouses,  while  boats  can  reach  only 
those  situated  along  the  water-front. 

Another  advantage  of  the  railroads  is  that  they 
bill  freight  all  the  way  through,  and  that  freight  is 
much  more  easily  transferred  from  one  road  to 
another.     It  is  much  more  difficult  and  expensive 


loo  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

to  load  and  reload  freight  from  boats  and  barges 
on  account  of  the  high  and  low  water  stages  of  the 
river.  This  difference  amounts  to  as  much  as  sixty 
feet  in  the  Ohio  River  at  Cincinnati.  Railways 
make  faster  time,  and  the  distance  between  two 
points  is  usually  shorter,  though  sometimes  during 
the  busy  season  of  the  railways  the  river  freight 
reaches  its  destination  much  sooner. 

The  other  class  of  reasons  relates  to  the  railways 
themselves,  which  have  always  been  in  open  com- 
petition with  the  waterways,  and  to  gain  traffic  for 
themselves,  usually  charge  lower  rates  to  those 
points  to  which  boats  also  carry  freight.  In  many 
cases  they  have  bought  the  steamboat  lines  so  that 
rates  might  be  kept  up,  and  then,  unable  to  operate 
the  two  lines  as  cheaply  as  one,  have  abandoned  the 
steamboat  lines. 

Another  method  by  which  the  railroads  have 
driven  out  the  water  traffic,  is  by  charging  extremely 
heavy  rates  for  freight  hauled  a  short  distance  to  or 
from  boats,  making  it  quite  as  cheap  as  well  as 
more  convenient  to  send  freight  all  the  way  by  rail. 

Lastly,  railroad  warehouses,  terminals  and  ma- 
chinery for  handling  freight  are  all  much  better 
than  those  of  inland  steamboat  lines,  except  at  some 
points  on  the  Great  Lakes  where  the  traffic  is  very 
heavy. 

Some  of  these  disadvantages  might  be  overcome 


WATER  loi 

by  law.  In  France,  where  the  waterways  are  man- 
aged better  than  in  any  other  country,  the  law 
requires  that  railroad  rates  be  twenty  per  cent, 
higher  on  all  heavy  freight  than  the  rates  on  the 
same  freight  if  carried  by  water,  and  in  several 
countries  railroad  companies  are  not  permitted  to 
own  or  manage  a  steamboat  line. 

These  measures  are  suggestive  of  what  may  be 
done  by  law  to  correct  abuses,  but  laws  alone  can 
not  accomplish  everything.  The  rivers  belong  to 
all  the  people,  and  every  one  who  wishes  may  oper- 
ate steamboat  or  barge  lines,  but  before  these  can 
become  profitable,  and  before  first  class  warehouses 
and  machinery  are  installed,  there  must  appear  on 
the  part  of  the  people  a  desire  to  patronize  them. 
The  best  results  are  found  in  those  cases  where 
there  is  harmony  between  the  railways  and  the 
steamboat  lines;  those  in  which  the  steamboat  lines 
relieve  the  railways  of  much  of  the  heavy  freight 
which  they  are  not  able  to  handle  without  greatly 
increasing  their  present  equipment. 

There  should  be  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the 
people.  The  towns  and  cities  along  the  banks  of 
many  European  rivers  provide  suitable  terminals, 
warehouses  and  wharves  with  free  use  of  the  serv- 
ice. In  other  cases  this  is  done  by  private  capital 
with  a  charge  for  use  to  shippers.  Sometimes  it 
is  done  by  the  steamboat  companies  themselves,  but 


102  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

unless  one  or  the  other  method  is  assured  all  along 
the  river  it  is  not  wise  for  the  government  to  under- 
take the  improvement  of  a  stream. 

Intelligent  improvement  of  the  waterways  of  the 
United  States  demands  first  that  a  careful  survey 
of  the  needs  of  the  whole  country  be  made,  then 
that  a  systematic  plan  be  carried  out  providing  for 
the  improvement  of  important  streams  first. 

The  state  and  nation  should  work  together,  and 
any  work  that  is  begun  should  be  completed  as 
promptly  as  possible  so  that  its  full  benefit  may  be 
realized. 

Certain  work,  such  as  the  improvement  of  the 
channel,  should  be  done  by  the  national  government, 
since  the  waters  belong  to  the  nation;  but  the  ex- 
pense of  constructing  levees  or  dykes  should  be 
borne  by  the  land  owners  along  the  banks,  because 
the  land  thus  protected  is  greatly  increased  in  value ; 
or  by  the  state,  which  gets  the  return  in  increased 
taxes. 

In  many  instances,  the  improvement  of  a  stream 
would  be  a  great  benefit  to  one  state  or  part  of  a 
state,  but  it  would  be  impossible  in  many  years  to 
improve  all  the  desirable  streams,  so  that  the  larger 
ones  of  most  general  importance  must  be  consid- 
ered first. 

In  such  cases  the  improvement  is  often  under- 
taken by  the  state.     Some  navigable  rivers  have 


.WATER  103 

been  thus  improved  and  many  canals  are  the  prop- 
erty of  states  or  of  private  companies. 

Only  a  few  rivers  have  a  steady  flow  throughout 
the  year  at  a  depth  sufficient  to  carry  large  boats. 
On  most  streams  destructive  floods  at  certain  sea- 
sons and  low  waters  at  others  interfere  with  navi- 
gation during  a  considerable  part  of  the  year. 
Most  rivers  have  sand-bars,  sunken  rocks  or  logs 
in  the  channel,  making  the  passage  of  boats  difficult 
and  dangerous.  Others  are  well  suited  for  naviga- 
tion, except  at  points  where  rapids  and  falls  make 
it  impossible  for  boats  to  pass.  The  Ohio,  the 
Tennessee,  the  Missouri  and  the  upper  Mississippi 
abound  in  such  dangerous  places  and  these  should 
be  canalized.  It  is  the  improving  of  rivers  in  these 
ways,  dredging  harbors  to  make  them  safer,  and 
digging  canals  to  provide  a  short  passage  between 
two  bodies  of  water,  that  constitute  what  is  known 
as  the  Improvement  of  Inland  Waters. 

If  you  look  at  a  map  showing  the  navigable 
streams  of  the  United  States  you  will  see  that  nearly 
all  of  them  lie  in  the  eastern  part. 

The  Mississippi  is  like  a  great  artery  with 
branches  extending  in  all  directions,  east  and  west. 
The  Great  Lakes,  with  their  outlet,  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  and  the  many  important  rivers  empty- 
ing into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
such  as  the  Merrimac,  Hudson,  Delaware,  Susque- 


I04  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

hanna,  Potomac  and  Rio  Grande,  form  great  high- 
ways for  all  the  commerce  of  the  eastern  part  of 
the  country,  while  the  Columbia,  Sacramento  and 
Colorado  Rivers,  with  their  branches,  are  the  only, 
navigable  streams  of  any  importance  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River  system. 

In  some  places  a  small  portion  of  land  divides 
two  important  water  areas,  and  canals  dug  through 
this  neck  of  land  change  the  commercial  routes  of 
the  whole  world.  Such  are  the  Isthmus  of  Suez, 
eighty-seven  miles  wide,  through  which  a  canal  was 
cut  that  saves  a  sailing  distance  of  3,700  miles  from 
England  to  India.  Only  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
forty-nine  miles  in  width,  divides  the  Atlantic  from 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  When  the  canal  across  this 
narrow  strip  is  completed,  the  sailing  distance  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco  will  be  shortened  8,000 
miles,  the  entire  distance  around  South  America. 

The  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal,  connecting  Lakes 
Superior  and  Huron,  is  only  a  little  more  than  a 
mile  and  a  half  long,  but  it  opens  up  the  entire 
iron,  copper,  lumber  and  wheat  resources  of  the 
Northwest  to  cheap  water  passage  through  the 
other  lakes  to  the  manufacturing  region  of  the 
East. 

The  Erie  Canal,  by  connecting  Lake  Erie  with  the 
Hudson  River  from  Buffalo  to  Albany,  New  York, 
makes  the  only  water  passage  from  the  Great  Lakes 


WATER  105 

to  the  ocean  that  lies  within  the  borders  of  the 
United  States. 

If  you  will  turn  to  the  map  again,  you  will  see 
still  other  places  where  a  short  canal  may  open  up 
an  entirely  new  and  important  water  route.  From 
Chicago  to  Lockport,  Illinois,  is  only  thirty-seven 
miles,  but  Chicago  is  on  Lake  Michigan,  while  Lock- 
port  is  on  the  Illinois  River,  a  branch  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. This  canal,  a  large  part  of  which  is  now  in 
operation,  is  a  part  of  the  Lakes  to  Gulf  waterway. 
One  plan  is  to  broaden  and  deepen  the  channel  so 
that  large  vessels  may  pass,  without  unloading,  from 
the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Another  proposed  canal  which  would  be  under- 
taken largely  by  individual  states  and  a  part  of 
which  is  already  completed,  would  afford  a  safe 
inside  passage  connecting  the  many  bays,  channels 
and  navigable  rivers  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 

Still  another  proposed  measure  is  the  cutting  of 
a  canal  from  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Michigan 
to  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie  at  Toledo,  Ohio, 
to  avoid  the  long  haul  up  Lake  Michigan  and  down 
Lake  Huron  again. 

The  United  States  now  has  25,000  miles  of  nav- 
igable rivers  and  a  nearly  equal  mileage  of  rivers 
not  now  navigable  but  which  might  be  made  com- 
mercially important;  five  great  lakes  that  have  a 
combined   length   of   1,410   miles,   2,120  miles  of 


io6  CHECKING  THE  .WASTE 

operated  canals,  and  2,500  miles  of  sounds,  bays 
and  bayous,  that  might  be  joined  by  tidewater 
canals  easily  constructed,  less  than  1,000  miles  long 
altogether,  and  making  a  continuous  passage  from 
New  England  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

In  all,  our  waterways  at  the  present  time  are 
55,000  to  60,000  miles  long,  the  greatest  system 
in  the  world,  but  almost  unused. 

The  most  important  waterway  improvement  so 
far  completed,  is  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  or  the  "  Soo  " 
canal  which  cost  $96,000,000.  A  depth  of  eight 
feet  was  increased  to  twenty-one  feet  The  traffic 
has  risen  in  sixteen  years  from  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter tons  to  forty-one  and  a  quarter  million  tons. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  United  States  is  not 
naturally  fitted  to  be  the  home  of  man;  at  least,  it 
is  not  fitted  to  produce  his  food,  and  except  on  the 
lofty  mountains  the  reason  for  this  will  almost  al- 
ways be  found  to  be  either  a  lack  or  an  excess  of 
water. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country,  there  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  little  rainfall.  These  arid  or  semi-arid  lands 
must  be  provided  with  water  for  drinking  purposes 
and  for  agriculture.  The  diverting  of  water 
courses  into  canals  and  ditches  so  that  water  can 
be  carried  to  these  waste  lands  is  called  irrigation. 

In  other  parts  of  the  country  where  rains  are 
abundant,   serious  floods  occur  every  year,  often 


WATER  107 

many  times  in  a  year.  Thousands  of  acres  of  land 
thus  subject  to  overflow  are  lost  to  use.  The  hold- 
ing back  of  these  flood  waters  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  rivers,  and  so  preventing  these  overflows,  is 
termed  storage  of  waters. 

In  still  other  regions  the  rainfall  is  abundant, 
and  the  land  low-lying.  Large  areas  are  always 
covered  with  water.  Such  lands  are  called  swamps 
or  bogs,  and  when  drained,  they  become  the  richest 
of  agricultural  lands.  Irrigation,  storage  and 
drainage  are  the  three  methods  employed  to  make 
waste  lands  valuable  and  useful.  The  land  is 
saved  or  reclaimed,  so  all  these  methods  of  balancing 
and  distributing  the  water  supply  are  called  reclama- 
tion. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  irrigation  is  more 
generally  needed  in  the  West,  storage  of  flood  waters 
in  the  central  and  eastern  states,  and  drainage  in 
the  South. 

By  thus  distributing  the  rainfall,  hundreds  of 
millions  of  acres  have  been  or  may  be  reclaimed, 
and  large  regions,  formerly  unfit  to  inhabit,  have 
been  turned  into  profitable  farms.  Three-fourths 
of  one  per  cent,  of  our  total  rainfall,  or  two  per 
cent,  of  all  that  falls  in  the  West,  is  used  for  irrigat- 
ing 13,000,000  acres. 

There  are  several  methods  of  irrigation  which 
are  adapted  to  different  regions  and  different  crops. 


io8  CHECKING  THE  .WASTE 

The  rice  fields  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Louisi- 
ana and  Texas  are  irrigated  by  allowing  the  land 
to  remain  continually  flooded  to  a  depth  of  several 
inches.  When  the  irrigation  season  is  over  the 
levees  are  opened,  and  the  water  runs  off  rapidly, 
and  the  crop  is  soon  ready  to  be  harvested.  Tidal 
rivers  are  used  to  supply  water  in  most  cases,  but 
in  Texas  many  flowing  wells  are  employed  for  irri- 
gation. 

In  Florida,  where  irrigation  is  used  largely  for 
intensive  farming,  various  means  are  employed, 
some  of  which  are  also  used  in  the  western  and 
southwestern  states.  Mechanical  pumps,  operated 
by  turbine  wheels,  pump  the  water  from  the  rivers  if 
a  lift  be  required.  Sometimes  the  w^ater  is  pumped 
direct  to  the  fields  in  iron  pipes  and  applied  by 
means  of  hydrants  and  hose,  as  in  a  city  water  sys- 
tem. 

Overhead  pipe  lines  are  now  recognized  as  the 
most  perfect  and  satisfactory  form  of  artificial 
watering.  Two-inch  pipes  are  run  over  frames  sev- 
eral feet  in  height.  These  are  arranged  in  parallel 
lines  all  over  the  fields  about  forty  feet  apart.  At 
intervals  of  forty  feet,  a  small  iron  pipe,  ending 
with  a  fine  spraying  attachment,  extends  upward. 
The  water  is  turned  on  in  the  evening  and  comes 
out  of  the  sprayer  in  a  fine  mist  and  falls  upon  the 
plants  like  a  gentle  rain. 


WATER  T09 

By  another  form  of  irrigation,  the  fields  are  di- 
vided at  regular  intervals  by  wide  wooden  troughs 
from  which  water  is  directed  between  the  rows  of 
plants.  Main  canals  leading  from  the  streams  and 
intersected  by  short  canals  extend  in  all  directions 
through  the  fields  and  orchards,  and  are  distributed 
in  various  ways.  This  system  is  in  general  use 
throughout  the  arid  portions  of  the  West.  The 
methods  are  said  to  be  the  most  scientific  and  varied 
in  southern  California. 

When  water  for  irrigation  is  supplied  from  wells 
some  underground  system  is  generally  used.  One 
common  method  is  to  lay  continuous  pipes  from  the 
wells  all  over  the  fields  and  distribute  from  hydrants, 
plugs  and  standpipes. 

By  still  another  system,  the  water  is  carried  be- 
low the  surface  through  pipes  which  are  broken 
every  few  inches  and  laid  in  beds  of  charcoal. 

In  the  eastern  states  irrigation  is  only  employed 
in  dry  weather  to  increase  the  yield  of  vegetable 
crops.  In  the  arid  western  region  it  transforms 
what  would  otherwise  be  a  dreary  desert  into  fer- 
tile valleys. 

William  J.  Bryan,  speaking  at  the  first  Conserva- 
tion Congress,  said,  "  Last  September,  I  visited  the 
southern  part  of  Idaho  and  saw  there  a  tract  that 
has  been  recently  reclaimed.  I  had  been  there  be- 
fore.    I  had  looked  upon  these  lands  as  so  barren 


no  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

that  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  impossible  that  they 
could  ever  be  made  useful. 

"  When  I  went  back  this  time  and  found  that  in 
three  years  1,700,000  acres  of  land  had  been  re- 
claimed, that  where  three  years  ago  nothing  but 
sage-brush  grew,  they  are  now  raising  seven  tons 
of  alfalfa  to  the  acre,  and  more  than  a  hundred 
bushels  of  oats;  when  I  found  that  ten  thousand 
people  are  living  on  that  tract,  that  in  one  town  that 
has  grown  up  in  that  time  there  are  more  than 
1,900  inhabitants,  and  in  three  banks  they  had  de- 
posits of  over  half  a  million  dollars,  I  had  some 
realization  of  the  magic  power  of  water  when  ap- 
plied to  these  desert  lands." 

The  same  thing  might  be  said  of  other  regions 
throughout  the  West.  In  the  Salton  district  of  Cal- 
ifornia a  marvelous  change  has  been  brought  about 
by  irrigation.  A  few  years  ago  that  was  one  of 
the  most  desolate  and  forbidding  regions  on  our 
continent.  Now  it  is  covered  with  several  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  alfalfa  and  other  crops,  and  it 
bids  fair  to  be  a  great  fruit  region.  Of  southern 
California  it  is  said,  "  The  irrigation  systems  of 
this  part  of  the  state  are  known  all  over  the  world, 
and  have  created  a  prosperous  commonwealth  in  a 
region  which  would  be  a  scene  of  utter  desolation 
without  them." 

This  locality  presents  a  better  opportunity  for 


WATER  III 

the  scientific  study  of  farming  by  irrigation  than 
exists  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Here  all  land 
values  depend  directly  on  ability  to  obtain  a  water 
supply.  So  precious  is  the  water  and  so  abundant 
are  the  rewards  that  follow  its  application  to  the 
soil  that  the  most  careful  consideration  is  given 
to  the  various  sources  of  supply  and  distribution. 

As  land  becomes  scarcer  and  the  cost  of  living 
greater  on  account  of  the  increase  in  population, 
men  are  turning  more  and  more  to  irrigation  to 
solve  the  problem  of  food  supply. 

As  showing  what  may  be  accomplished  by  irriga- 
tion, the  report  of  the  last  census  says :  "  The  con- 
struction of  large  irrigation  works  on  the  Platte, 
Yellowstone  and  Arkansas  Rivers  would  render  fer- 
tile an  area  equal  to  that  of  some  eastern  states. 
Engineers  are  grappling  with  the  great  problems  of 
conserving  the  flood  waters  of  these  streams,  which 
now  are  wasted  and  help  to  increase  the  destructive 
floods  of  the  Mississippi.  The  solving  of  these 
problems  will  change  a  vast  area  of  country,  now 
practically  worthless,  into  valuable  farms." 

The  "  Great  Bend  "  country,  drained  by  the  Co- 
lumbia River,  contains  several  million  acres  of  land 
which  only  requires  .water  to  make  it  of  great  agri- 
cultural value. 

The  Gila  River  basin  contains  more  than  10,000,- 
000  acres  of  fertile  land,  capable  of  producing  im- 


112  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

mense  crops  if  irrigated,  but  without  irrigation  it 
is  a  desert  land  where  only  sage-brush  and  cactus 
flourish. 

From  arid  lands  capable  of  producing  excellent 
crops  but  lacking  in  the  magical  element  of  water, 
we  pass  to  the  consideration  of  lands  where  the 
richest  of  soils  are  shut  off  from  productiveness 
because  they  are  covered  with  water.  On  the  lower 
Mississippi  the  soil  is  richer  than  in  any  other  part 
of  the  United  States,  but  much  of  it  is  overflowed 
so  frequently  that  it  is  unfit  for  cultivation.  Dykes 
and  levees  have  reclaimed  thousands  of  acres  of 
such  overflow  land.  Many  states  control  large 
marshy  sections  that  have  been  or  may  be  reclaimed. 

In  southern  Florida  lie  the  Everglades,  a  vast 
country  which  has  been  worse  than  valueless;  a 
malarial  region  abounding  in  alligators,  rattlesnakes, 
scorpions  and  other  dangerous  animals  and  insects. 
The  state  of  Florida  has  undertaken  the  work  of 
draining  this  great  swamp,  and  when  the  task  is 
completed,  Florida  will  have  added  to  its  resources 
3,000,000  acres  of  the  richest  soil  for  the  raising 
of  winter  vegetables  and  fruits. 

Florida  is  engaged  in  another  great  project  — ■ 
the  digging  of  an  inside  passage  connecting  its  in- 
land tidal  waters  by  a  canal  system  which  will  open 
to  navigation  a  continuous  inland  waterway  six 
hundred  miles  in  length.     In  digging  these  canals 


WATER  113 

through  the  marshes  bordering  the  coast,  thousands 
of  acres  of  exceedingly  fertile  land  have  been  re- 
claimed and  are  now  producing  valuable  crops. 

The  Kankakee  marshes  in  Indiana  have  been 
drained,  adding  many  thousands  of  acres  of  rich 
soil  to  the  agricultural  area  of  the  state. 

In  all,  about  80,000,000  acres  are  so  wet  that 
they  must  be  drained  in  order  to  make  them  pro- 
duce good  farm  crops,  but  which,  while  now  cov- 
ered only  with  marsh  grass  or  undergrowth,  is 
capable  of  being  made  the  most  fertile  of  all  land. 

This  swamp  land  is  ten  times  the  area  of  Holland, 
which  supports  a  population  of  5,000,000  people. 
It  is  therefore  easy  to  see  how  greatly  we  may  add 
to  our  productive  territory  and  our  national  wealth 
by  reclamation  through  drainage. 

We  now  come  to  the  use  of  water  as  power;  and 
although  in  the  last  fifty  years  this  subject  has  re- 
ceived little  attention,  as  manufacturing  increases 
and  as  fuel  decreases  and  becomes  higher,  the  value 
of  water  becomes  more  evident,  and  water-power 
sites  are  being  eagerly  sought. 

Our  age  may  come  to  be  known  in  the  future  as 
the  age  of  power,  because  through  the  application 
of  mechanical  power  man  has  gained  such  mar- 
velous control  over  the  world  about  him.  Wind 
and  water  led  in  the  production  of  power  until 
about   1870,  since  which  time  they  have  scarcely 


114  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

increased  at  all,  the  greater  advantages  of  steam 
and  electricity  having  driven  them  out. 

As  long  as  all  factories  had  to  be  built  by  the  side 
of  streams  having  suitable  water-power,  the  num- 
ber and  size  of  factories  were  always  extremely  lim- 
ited. With  the  introduction  of  steam  it  became 
possible  to  build  factories  at  mines,  in  forests,  in 
fruit  or  grain  regions,  wherever  the  supply  of  raw 
material  was  plentiful,  and  to  multiply  factories 
of  all  kinds  in  cities  near  the  markets  for  their 
product,  or  where  labor  was  cheap  and  abundant. 
But  power  could  only  be  used  where  it  was  de- 
veloped, and  the  size  of  the  power  plant  depended 
on  the  amount  of  business  done  by  each  individual 
user. 

Now  a  new  era  of  power  has  again  enlarged  the 
possibilities  of  manufacturing.  By  means  of  elec- 
tricity the  work,  not  only  of  factories,  but  also  of 
the  home  and  the  farm  may  be  done  in  any  place 
where  electricity  can  be  installed.  We  must  bear 
in  mind  that  electricity  is  never  a  source  of  power, 
but  is  only  the  agent  that  carries  power  to  the  user. 
The  source  of  all  electric  power  is  either  steam  or 
water,  produced  by  water-wheels,  turbines,  steam- 
engines  or  gas-engines.  The  economical  way  to 
furnish  electric  power  is  to  establish  central  power 
plants,  and  electricity  may  be  conveyed  from  them 
for  many  miles.     An  electric  railway,  telegraph,  or 


WATER  115 

telephone  system  many  miles  in  length  is  operated 
from  a  single  power  plant.  Electric  light  and  power 
are  transmitted  all  over  the  largest  cities.  It  is  no 
longer  necessary  that  a  factory  be  of  any  specified 
size  nor  that  it  have  any  waste  power.  If  it  be 
within  reach  of  the  electrical  current  it  may  use  as 
much  or  as  little  as  is  needed. 

The  cheapness  of  electric  power  must  always  de- 
pend on  nearness  to  the  source  of  supply  or  to  the 
market.  Until  a  short  time  ago  it  was  customary 
to  locate  electric  power-houses  near  the  market, 
that  is,  in  cities.  But  the  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  having  the  electric  plant  near  the  source  of 
power,  so  that  the  cost  of  production  is  greatly 
lessened,  are  becoming  better  recognized.  This 
will  make  water-power  increasingly  valuable. 

It  is  even  now  practicable  to  develop  water-power, 
wherever  located,  for  the  production  of  electricity. 
Although  the  lowest  grade  coals  are  used  for  elec- 
tric power  at  the  mines  yet  they  can  now  be  used 
for  still  other  purposes.  Coal  or  other  fuel  once 
used  can  not  be  replaced,  but  when  electricity  is 
derived  from  water-power  only  energy  otherwise 
wasted  is  used.  This  energy,  if  derived  from  water- 
power,  is  all  added  to  our  assets  instead  of  being  lost. 

For  many  years  the  amount  of  power  used  for 
manufacturing  and  other  purposes  has  doubled 
about  once  in  ten  years,  and  the  steady  pace  kept 


ii6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

by  different  lines  of  development  shows  how  closely 
they  are  related.  Our  power,  our  forest  cut,  the 
use  of  our  iron  and  other  minerals,  our  coal  and 
petroleum,  the  railroad  earnings,  freight  and  pas- 
senger traffic,  and  our  agricultural  products  all 
double  themselves  every  ten  years.  This  means  that 
in  ten  years  we  shall  require  twice  as  much  power 
as  now,  but  will  have  far  less  coal  to  use.  This 
raises  the  question, —  have  we  available  water-power 
to  conserve  our  coal  supply?  Let  us  see.  It  is 
estimated  that  we  are  now  using  26,000,000  horse- 
power of  energy  derived  from  steam,  3,000,000 
horse-power  derived  from  water,  and  800,000  from 
gas  or  oil,  a  total  of  29,800,000  horse-power.  It 
is  also  estimated  that  there  is  now  running  idly  over 
dams,  falls,  and  rapids  30,000,000  horse-power  of 
energy.  In  other  words,  we  are  wasting  every  day 
enough  water  to  run  every  factory  and  mill,  and 
to  turn  every  wheel,  to  move  every  electric  car  and 
to  supply  every  electric  light  or  power-station  in 
the  country. 

The  amount  of  water-power  is  gauged  solely  by 
the  low-water  stage  of  the  stream.  A  river  is  con- 
sidered to  produce  only  as  much  power  as  it  can 
furnish  at  its  season  of  lowest  water.  At  other 
times  factories  may  be  operated  more  actively,  but 
usually  most  of  the  extra  power  is  wasted  during  a 
large  part  of  the  year. 


[ 


WATER  117 

If  these  stomi  or  flood  waters  can  be  stored  in 
reservoirs,  the  stream-flow  throughout  the  year  can 
be  made  fairly  uniform  and  the  power  possibihties 
greatly  increased.  The  Geological  Survey  believes 
that  by  storing  the  flood  waters  and  regulating  the 
flow  of  the  streams,  the  large  rivers  of  the  United 
States  may  be  made  to  furnish  150,000,000  horse- 
power, enough,  if  it  could  be  utilized,  to  supply 
every  power  need  of  our  country  for  many  years 
to  come  without  using  a  ton  of  our  coal,  and  without 
in  any  way  decreasing  the  water. 

Of  course  this  can  never  be  practicable.  Much 
power  will  always  be  needed  where  no  stream  for 
power  is  available.  But  the  lesson  is  plain  that 
where  water  can  be  used  it  should  be,  both  in  order 
to  save  the  coal  and  because  it  can  be  produced 
more  cheaply.  The  30,000,000  horse-power  now 
available,  if  produced  in  our  most  modern  electric 
plants,  would  require  the  burning  of  nearly  225,- 
000,000  tons  of  coal,  and  if  in  the  average  plant  run 
by  steam-engines,  more  than  650,000,000  tons  of 
coal,  which  is  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  all  the  coal 
that  is  now  produced  in  this  country.  At  three  dol- 
lars per  ton  it  would  cost  $2,000,000,000  a  year  to 
supply  the  coal  to  furnish  the  power  that  we  might 
have,  one  might  almost  say,  as  a  by-product  from 
the  improving  of  the  rivers  for  navigation.  The 
development  of  the  water-power  possibilities  of  the 


ii8  CHECKING  THE  .WASTE 

country  is  now  going  forward  at  a  rapid  rate,  how- 
ever. 

Dams  on  the  Susquehanna  River  will  soon  make 
30,0CK)  horse-power  available,  which  could  be  in- 
creased to  200,000  by  building  storage  reservoirs. 

A  dam  just  begun  at  the  rapids  of  the  Mississippi 
River  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  will,  when  completed,  fur- 
nish 200,000  horse-power.  Niagara  is  producing 
56,000  horse-power  on  the  United  States  side. 
The  Muscle  Shoals  Falls  rapids  in  the  Tennessee 
River  is  furnishing  188,000  horse-power.  Illinois 
will  greatly  increase  its  possibilities  for  offering 
cheap  power  to  factories,  when  the  Lakes  to  Gulf 
Canal  with  173,000,000  horse-power  worth  $12,- 
750,000  yearly,  and  the  Chicago  Drainage  or  San- 
itary Canal,  which  has  nearly  60,000  horse-power, 
are  complete.  Both  of  these  projects  were  under- 
taken by  the  state. 

In  California  250,000  horse-power  is  now  in  oper- 
ation, and  5,000,000  horse-power  might  easily  be 
developed  in  that  state  alone,  which  at  the  price  of 
coal  would  be  worth  a  billion  dollars  a  year. 

New  England  has  the  oldest  system  of  water- 
power  control,  because  before  the  era  of  steam  it 
was  the  chief  manufacturing  region  of  the  country. 
The  Merrimac,  flowing  through  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts,  is  the  most  carefully  conserved 
river  in  the  world,  and  Governor  Dingley  of  Maine 


WATER  119 

said  that  the  water-power  of  Maine  is  equal  to  the 
working  energy  of  13,000,000  men. 

The  money  value  is  counted  at  twenty  dollars  a 
year  per  horse  power,  but  it  frequently  brings  as 
high  as  one  hundred  or  even  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  a  year  in  a  good  manufacturing  region,  so 
that  the  value  of  our  water-power  facilities  can 
hardly  be  computed. 

An  ideal  picture  of  the  harmonious  development 
of  our  water  resources  for  all  purposes  is  one  that 
is  not  too  difficult  to  realize.  It  is  the  ideal  that 
should  be  always  before  us  in  the  improvement  of 
our  waterways,  and  we  should  bear  in  mind  that 
although  the  expense  will  be  heavy,  it  will  not  cost 
more  than  one-tenth  as  much  to  improve  all  the 
important  waterways  as  to  equip  the  railways  to 
carry  the  traffic  they  will  be  called  on  to  carry  in 
the  next  ten  years;  and  also  that  in  the  past,  for 
every  dollar  that  has  been  spent  on  waterways, 
almost  twenty-five  dollars  has  been  spent  on  rail- 
ways. The  railways  are  a  great  and  important 
part  of  our  national  development,  but  the  waterways 
should  not  be  neglected.  Rather,  the  two  should 
be  so  harmonized  and  adjusted  as  to  make  one  great 
commercial  system  that  will  furnish  cheap  and  abun- 
dant transportation  for  all  our  commerce. 

The  most  complete  plan  for  conserving  our 
waters  is  as  follows:     First,  build  storage  reser- 


ifto  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

voirs  along  the  upper  stretches  of  the  river  to  hold 
the  overflow  waters  of  the  flood  season  which  are 
to  be  turned  into  the  main  channel  when  the  water 
becomes  too  low  for  ordinary  navigation. 

These  storage  reservoirs  should  be  on  the  low- 
est grade  of  land,  that  which  would  be  least  pro- 
ductive. The  reservoirs  should  be  well  stocked 
with  the  best  varieties  of  fish  to  make  them  profit- 
able. The  banks  should  be  planted  with  forest  trees 
and  made  as  attractive  as  they  can  be  made  to 
form  public  parks  and  pleasure  grounds  for  the 
people,  where  boating,  fishing  and  bathing  may  be 
enjoyed. 

The  next  point  is  to  remove  all  obstructions  from 
the  river,  to  canalize  it  at  shallow  places  or  rapids, 
so  that  the  whole  river  will  be  navigable,  and,  if 
necessary,  to  deepen  the  channel  so  that  it  will  carry 
large  vessels  between  two  important  points. 

Dams  should  be  built  to  take  advantage  of  every 
opportunity  for  water-power.  One  of  the  worst 
mistakes  in  the  past  has  been  the  failure  to  use 
the  power  that  might  have  been  developed  in  im- 
proving the  streams  for  navigation. 

Rivers  should  be  made  profitable  still  further 
by  stocking  with  fish  and  should  be  kept  clear  of 
factory  refuse  and  sewage.  Soil- wash  should  be 
lessened  by  planting  trees  and  shrubs  along  the 


WATER  121 

banks;  and  where  overflow  or  erosion  lowers  the 
value  of  the  land  or  repeatedly  ruins  the  crops,  dykes 
and  levees  should  be  built. 

The  rivers  most  important  commercially  should 
be  improved  first.  Canals  should  be  cut  between 
waterways  where  large  benefits  will  result;  over- 
flow and  swamp  land  should  be  drained,  and  in  arid 
regions  every  particle  of  water  conserved  for  irri- 
gation purposes. 

The  irrigation  canals  may  also  be  used  to  supply 
water-power,  and  the  canals  may  be  used  as  are 
other  canals  for  towing  barges.  If  electric  power 
is  produced,  electric  towing  is  cheap  and  very  de- 
sirable as  a  means  of  transportation. 

In  short,  our  water  supply  should  be  as  care- 
fully used  and  with  as  little  waste  as  the  land  of 
forests.  The  most  important  improvements  needed 
are,  a  Lakes  to  Gulf  Waterway  that  shall  be  safe 
and  practicable  at  least  for  vessels  of  moderate 
size;  the  improvement  of  the  Ohio,  Missouri,  Ten- 
nessee and  Upper  Mississippi  Rivers;  an  inner 
coast  passage  from  New  England  to  Florida,  and 
in  navigable  rivers  dredging  and  deepening  if  nec- 
essary, to  make  many  outlets  to  the  sea  which  will 
afford  cheap  transportation. 

In  the  West,  the  Columbia,  San  Joaquin  and 
Sacramento  Rivers  with  their  branches  should  be 


122  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

made  navigable.  Many  western  rivers  have  been 
almost  ruined  by  filling  with  rocks  in  hydraulic 
mining,  but  this  is  now  prohibited  by  law  and  if  the 
channels  were  cleared  they  would  again  become 
navigable. 

Appropriations  for  much  of  this  work  have 
already  been  made  by  Congress,  but  the  work  is 
not  systematically  planned.  The  cost  of  all  of  it 
would  be  about  sixty-two  and  a  half  cents  a  year 
for  each  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  country  and 
every  one  would  receive  some  benefit. 

The  National  Conservation  Commission  on  Wa- 
terways found  that  the  average  family  pays  for 
transportation  or  freight  on  all  its  food  and  clothing 
and  the  necessities  of  life,  nearly  or  quite  one-third 
their  actual  cost.  "  It  is  estimated  that  the  direct 
benefits  would  be  a  yearly  saving  in  freight  han- 
dling of  $250,000,000,  a  yearly  saving  in  flood  dam- 
age of  $150,000,000,  a  saving  in  forest  fires  of  at 
least  $25,000,000,  a  benefit  through  cheapened 
power  of  fully  $75,000,000  and  a  yearly  saving  in 
farm  production  of  $500,000,000;  a  total  of 
$1,000,000,000,  or  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
for  each  person  —  twenty  times  the  cost !  And  this 
does  not  take  into  account  the  benefits  from  irriga- 
tion, drainage,  and  the  lessening  of  disease  by  a 
pure  water  supply." 


WATER  123 


REFERENCES 

Waters.    Report  of  the  National  Conservation  Commission. 

Report  of  Inland  Waterways  Commission,  1908. 

American  Inland  Waterways.     H.  Quick. 

Waterways  and  Water  Transportation.    J.  S.  Jeans. 

Waterway  Transportation  in  Europe.    L.  G.  McPherson. 

Highways  of  Progress.    J,  J.  Hill. 

Navigation  Resources  of  the  United  States.  (Johnson.) 
Report,  Governor's  Conference. 

Conservation  of  Power  Resources.  (H.  St.  Oair  Putnam.) 
Report,  Governor's  Conference. 

Florida's  Waterways.  (Miles.)  Report,  Governor's  Con- 
ference. 

Our  Water  Resources.  (Lyman  Cooley.)  Report,  Gov- 
ernor's Conference. 

The  Lakes-to-Gulf  Waterway.  (Randolph.)  Report,  Gov- 
ernor's Conference. 

Water  Resources.  (Kummel.)  Report,  Governor's  Con- 
ference, 

Necessity  for  Waterway  Improvement.  (Austin.)  Report, 
Governor's  Conference. 

Report  Congressional  Committee  on  European  Waterways. 
Senate  Document,  1910. 

River  and  Harbor  Bill.    Senate  Document.    Burton,   1910. 

Forests,  Water  Storage,  Power  and  Navigation.  (Taylor.) 
Proceedings  of  the  Am.  Hydrochemical  Society, 

Our  Inland  Waterways,     (McGee.) 

Outlines  of  Hydrology.     (McGee.) 

Natural  Movement  of  Water  in  Semi-arid  Regions.  (Mc- 
Gee.) 

Irrigation  in  the  United  States.  Dept.  Commerce  and  Labor 
Census  Bureau. 

Irrigation  Projects  of  the  U.  S.  Reclamation  Service. 

Reports  of  Irrigation  in  various  states.  Apply  to  Gov- 
ernor. 


CHAPTER  y 

COAL 

When  we  begin  to  study  the  mineral  resources 
of  the  country  we  pass  to  conditions  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  we  have  been  considering. 
Heretofore  we  have  been  dealing  with  resources 
that  can  be  renewed,  the  soil  by  proper  manage- 
ment, the  forests  by  replanting,  the  waters  by  na- 
ture's own  processes;  but  the  fuels,  the  iron  and 
many  other  mineral  resources  once  used  are  gone 
for  ever. 

As  to  their  importance  Andrew  Carnegie  says: 
"  Of  all  the  world's  metals  iron  is  in  our  day  the 
most  useful.  The  opening  of  the  iron  age  marked 
the  beginning  of  real  industrial  development.  To- 
day the  position  of  nations  may  almost  be  measured 
by  its  production  and  use.  Iron  and  coal  form  the 
foundation  of  our  prosperity.  The  value  of  each 
depends  upon  the  amount  and  nearness  of  the  other. 
In  modern  times  the  manufacturing  and  transpor- 
tation industries  rest  upon  them,  and  with  suffi- 
cient land  and  a  fertile  soil,  these  determine  the 
progress  of  any  people." 

124 


COAL  125 

We  are  sometimes  told  that  we  need  have  no 
anxiety  about  the  future,  that  new  discoveries  and 
inventions  will  take  the  place  of  the  present  fuels, 
and  even  substitutes  for  minerals  will  be  devised 
long  before  the  supply  is  exhausted.  This  may  be 
true,  and  in  a  way  the  future  must  take  care  of 
itself,  but  until  new  inventions  have  actually  been 
made  it  is  criminal  to  waste  present  resources  and 
blindly  trust  that  time  will  make  our  folly  appear 
good  judgment  and  foresight. 

We  have  vast  mineral  resources  unused ;  the  pres- 
ent generation,  even  its  children  and  its  children's 
children  need  have  no  fear  of  a  shortage.  But  in 
the  use  of  those  resources  that  are  steadily  and 
for  ever  diminishing  we  must  look  a  long  way  into 
the  future.  We  are  under  the  most  solemn  obliga- 
tion to  take  only  our  part  of  the  store,  and  leave 
the  rest  untouched  and  unspoiled  for  those  who 
are  to  come  after  us.  When  we  consider  what 
these  mineral  resources  have  done  for  our  country 
in  the  last  fifty  years,  when  we  realize  that  it  is 
only  by  having  cheap  and  abundant  coal,  iron,  and 
copper  that  our  railroads,  our  various  electric  sys- 
tems, and  our  great  manufactories  have  been  devel- 
oped, we  can  realize  our  duty  to  give  the  coming 
generations  an  equal  opportunity  to  develop  their 
ideas. 

The  yearly  products  of  the  mines  of  the  United 


126  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

States  are  now  valued  at  more  than  $2,000,000,000. 
Sixty-five  car-loads  of  freight  out  of  every  hun- 
dred carried  by  our  railroads  are  made  up  of  min- 
eral products.  More  than  a  million  men  are  em- 
ployed at  the  mines,  and  more  than  twice  that 
number  in  handling  and  transporting  mine  prod- 
ucts. 

Of  every  one  hundred  tons  of  coal  mined  in  the 
whole  world,  the  United  States  produces  forty- 
three  tons.  We  supply  forty-five  tons  out  of  every 
hundred  of  iron  ore,  twenty-two  tons  of  gold,  thirty 
tons  of  silver,  thirty-three  tons  of  lead,  nearly 
twenty-eight  tons  of  the  zinc,  about  fifty-five  tons 
of  the  copper,  and  sixty-three  tons  of  the  petroleum 
consumed  by  all  civilized  countries. 

This  would  be  a  cause  for  great  national  pride 
if  we  did  not  need  also  to  consider  the  shameful 
fact  that  our  wastes  or  losses  in  the  mining,  hand- 
dling,  and  use  of  our  mineral  products  are  estimated 
at  more  than  $1,500,000  per  day,  or,  for  the  year, 
the  gigantic  sum  of  $547,500,000.  That  is,  more 
than  one- fourth  of  the  entire  output  is  wasted ! 

Of  all  our  minerals,  the  fuels  which  supply  heat, 
light,  and  power  for  domestic  and  manufacturing 
purposes,  are  the  most  necessary  and  important. 
Other  materials  can  not  be  manufactured  without 
their  aid.  Almost  every  particular  of  modern  life 
would  be  changed  if  we  no  longer  had  plenty  of 


COAL  127 

fuel.  Its  use  means  its  immediate  and  complete 
destruction,  which  is  true  of  no  other  resource,  and 
the  use  of  fuels  is  increasing  and  will  increase  so 
rapidly  that  their  conservation  is  becoming  a  serious 
problem. 

The  principal  fuels  are  coal,  gas,  oil,  peat,  alco- 
hol, and  wood,  and  of  these,  coal  is  at  present  by 
far  the  most  important.  The  first  record  of  coal 
mined  in  this  country  was  in  1814,  when  twenty- 
two  tons  of  anthracite,  or  hard  coal,  were  mined 
in  Pennsylvania.  An  increasing  amount  was  mined 
each  year,  but  until  182 1  the  production  was  less 
than  five  hundred  tons  per  year.  In  1822  the  pro- 
duction advanced  to  nearly  60,000  tons,  and  since 
that  time  has  increased  by  leaps  and  bounds. 

During  the  seventy-five  years  from  1820  to  1895, 
nearly  4,000,000,000  tons  were  mined  by  methods 
so  wasteful  that  6,000,000,000  tons  were  destroyed 
or  allowed  to  remain  in  the  ground  so  that  it  could 
never  be  recovered.  Within  the  next  ten  years  as 
much  was  produced  as  in  the  entire  seventy-five  pre- 
ceding years,  and  in  this  period  3,000,000,000  tons 
were  destroyed  or  left  in  the  ground  beyond  the' 
reach  of  future  use.  Up  to  this  time  the  actual 
amount  of  coal  used  has  been  over  7,500,000,000 
tons ;  the  waste  9,000,000,000  tons. 

Experts  estimate  that  in  the  beginning  there  were 
somewhere  about  2,000,000,000,000  tons  of  avail- 


128  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

able  coal,  so  that  we  have  now,  with  all  our  waste- 
fulness, used  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  our  original 
inheritance.  But  we  must  remember  that  in  the 
ten  years  closing  with  1905,  we  used  as  much  as 
during  the  entire  history  of  our  country  up  to  that 
time,  and  the  rate  of  consumption  is  still  increas- 
ing. In  1907  the  amount  mined  was  about  450,- 
000,000  tons.  Counting  on  a  continuance  of  the 
same  rate  of  increase,  in  191 7  it  will  be  900,000,000 
tons  a  year,  and  if  the  same  conditions  should  con- 
tinue for  twenty  years  we  should  be  using  and  wast- 
ing in  one  year  as  much  as  we  have  used  in  all  our 
history  up  to  the  present  time.  By  that  time  more 
than  one-eighth  of  our  original  supply  will  be  gone, 
and  in  less  than  two  hundred  years  nearly  all  of  it 
will  have  for  ever  disappeared. 

That  is  a  long  time  to  look  forward,  but  a  short 
time  in  looking  backward.  It  carries  us  back  only 
to  the  childhood  of  Benjamin  Franklin  and  others 
prominent  in  our  early  history;  and  if  this  nation 
could  look  forward  to  only  an  equal  period  of  pros- 
perous development  in  the  future  the  time  would 
seem  short  indeed. 

But  the  danger  of  our  coal  supply  becoming  ex- 
hausted lies  not  so  much  in  its  present  use  as  in  the 
rapid  increase  in  its  consumption.  Fifty  years  ago 
(about  the  time  of  the  Civil  War)  we  were  using 
an  amount  equal  to  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of 


COAL  129 

a  ton  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  then  in  the 
country.  Now  the  rate  is  five  tons,  or  twenty  times 
that  amount,  for  each  person  of  all  our  greatly  in- 
creased population. 

The  Pittsburg  Coal  Company  owns  about  one- 
seventh  of  the  great  Pennsylvania  anthracite  fields. 
From  the  amount  it  is  now  mining  each  year  and 
judging  from  the  amount  of  coal  it  is  able,  wath 
present  methods,  to  reclaim  from  an  acre  of  coal 
land,  the  estimate  is  made  that  this  Pittsburg  field 
will  be  exhausted  in  ninety-three  years.  A  like  com- 
parison of  all  the  eastern  fields  indicates  that  by  the 
beginning  of  the  next  century  there  will  be  prac- 
tically no  cheap  fuel  left  in  the  entire  Appalachian 
basin. 

The  Geological  Survey  reports  that,  taking  into 
account  the  available  coal  which  can  be  reached  and 
mined  by  present  methods,  and  supposing  the  pres- 
ent conditions  of  use,  waste,  and  increase  to  con- 
tinue, the  coal  supply  will  be  exhausted  by  the  year 
2015  A.  D.,  but  taking  into  account  the  probable 
improvements  in  its  use,  the  year  2027  A.  D.  is 
estimated  as  the  time  when  the  present  coal  fields 
will  be  exhausted,  and  the  middle  of  that  century 
as  the  time  when  all  coal  fields  in  the  United  States 
will  be  gone. 

This  true  story  well  illustrates  the  need  of  con- 
servation and  the  folly  of  careless  waste.     High  in 


I30  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

the  hills  of  the  Pittsburg  region  a  thick  bed  of  ex- 
cellent coal  was  found  by  the  early  settlers.  It  was 
impossible  for  them  to  build  roads  up  the  steep 
cliffs,  so  some  method  of  getting  the  coal  down  to 
the  valleys  had  to  be  devised.  Buffaloes  roamed 
the  western  plains  in  countless  millions,  and  were 
so  abundant  about  Pittsburg  that  the  supply 
seemed  inexhaustible.  So  the  pioneers  killed  the 
buffaloes,  filled  each  skin  with  a  few  bushels  of 
coal,  sewed  it  up,  and  tumbled  it  down  the  moun- 
tain side. 

This  was  the  way  they  marketed  their  coal  —  by 
destroying  their  buffaloes.  For  many  years  no  one 
dreamed  that  there  was  any  end  to  the  supply  of 
buffaloes.  And  so  both  east  and  west  they  were 
killed  for  their  skins,  which  sold  for  a  few  cents, 
for  their  horns,  for  a  supply  of  steak,  or  for  mere 
sport;  and  then  one  day  people  woke  up  to  find 
that  the  buffalo  had  disappeared,  not  in  one  settle- 
ment only,  as  they  had  supposed,  but  everywhere. 
There  are  a  few  remaining,  carefully  cared  for  by 
the  government.  They  are  among  our  most  valued 
possessions,  and  yet  only  a  few  years  ago  they  were 
destroyed,  wasted,  by  millions. 

This  passing  of  the  buffalo,  the  skins  of  which, 
as  common  then  as  burlap  bags  are  now,  were  used 
to  market  our  first  coal,  carries  with  it  a  deep  lesson 
as   to   what   will   happen  to  the   coal   itself,   even 


COAL  131 

within  the  present  century,  unless  our  people  awake 
to  the  consequence  of  what  they  are  doing  and 
make  a  determined  effort  to  stop  all  unnecessary 
waste. 

Let  us  see  where  and  how  these  wastes  occur. 
The  first  serious  loss  of  our  coal  occurs  at  the 
mines.  There  are  three  great  wastes  in  mining. 
( I )  A  coal  bed  is  not  made  up  entirely  of  pure 
coal,  especially  if  it  be  very  thick.  Sometimes  there 
are  layers  of  shale  or  clay,  which  makes  a  large 
amount  of  ash.  This  can  never  be  sold  as  regular 
marketable  coal;  but  it  is  rich  in  carbon,  and  much 
of  it  might  be  used  if  it  could  be  marketed  near  the 
mines  and  sold  as  low-grade  coal.  In  the  past 
there  has  been  almost  no  market  for  it,  and  if  it 
were  either  in  the  roof  or  bottom  of  the  coal  bed, 
it  has  been  left  unmined.  If  mixed  with  pure  coal, 
the  low-grade  coal  was  thrown  into  great  heaps  at 
the  mouth  of  the  mine.  This  refuse  coal  is  called 
culm.  The  amount  varies  from  one-tenth  to  one- 
half  of  the  coal  in  nearly  every  coal  bed,  and  would 
probably  average  one-fourth  in  all  the  mines  of  the 
country. 

This  material  is  rich  in  carbon,  and  when  used 
in  gas-engines  will  furnish  more  power  than  the 
best  Pocahontas  coal  when  steam-engines  are  used. 
Thus  one-fourth  of  all  our  coal  is  wasted  at  the 
mines  simply  because  steam-engines  instead  of  gas- 


132  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

producer  engines  have  been  employed.  H  in  the 
future  instalation  of  power  this  fact  is  taken  into 
consideration,  it  will  make  the  cost  less  to  the  user, 
and  at  the  same  time  utiHze  a  large  proportion  of 
our  impure  coal  and  save  the  higher  grades  for 
other  purposes. 

(2)  In  the  mining  of  coal  it  was  formerly  the 
unfailing  custom  to  leave  supporting  pillars  of 
coal  for  the  over-lying  rocks  to  rest  upon,  to  make 
suitable  working-rooms,  etc.  These  pillars,  twelve 
to  eighteen  inches  square,  and  higher  than  a  man's 
head,  are  scattered  throughout  the  entire  mines  and 
are  usually  of  the  highest  grade  coal.  In  many 
mines,  also,  a  roof  of  coal  a  foot  or  more  in  thick- 
ness must  be  left  because  the  material  above  the 
coal  is  not  solid  enough  to  prevent  cave-ins.  When 
the  mine  is  abandoned  and  closed  these  pillars  and 
roofings  remain  untouched,  because  removing  them 
constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  dangers  to  life,  and 
is  one  of  the  frequent  causes  of  mine  accidents.  It 
is  improbable  that  the  coal  thus  left  in  abandoned 
mines  will  ever  be  reclaimed,  because  not  enough 
is  left  to  make  it  profitable  at  present  prices  to  re- 
open the  mines;  and  frequently  the  rocks  cave  in 
about  these  pillars  and  make  the  task  almost  im- 
possible. 

(3)  By  careless  blasting  an  unnecessarily  large 
amount  of  coal  is  blown  into  powder, —  the  slack 


COAL  133 

which  has  not  been  marketed  at  all  until  within  the 
last  few  years.  Much  of  this  slack,  which  is  the 
best  grade  of  coal  in  a  pulverized  form,  is  left  in- 
side the  mines.  These  wastes  in  abandoned  roof- 
ing, pillars,  and  small-sized  coal,  together  make  a 
total  which  for  all  the  mines  in  the  country  will 
average  fully  one-fourth  more  of  the  coal  that  is  in 
the  ground. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  conditions  are 
changing  for  the  better.  The  most  modern  mines 
use  fewer  supporting  pillars  of  coal,  and  these  are 
of  larger  size,  so  that  there  is  less  danger  of  acci- 
dents. Wherever  possible  they  use  timbers  of  wood 
instead  of  these  smaller  pillars  of  coal.  They  also 
mine  as  near  the  top  of  the  seam  of  coal  as  can 
be  done  safely,  and  so  regulate  the  blasting  that 
much  less  slack  is  made  than  by  the  heavy  dis- 
charges. These  changes  in  mining  methods  save  a 
far  larger  proportion  of  coal,  and  also  prevent  many 
accidents,  which  are  the  most  unfortunate  feature 
of  coal  mining,  and  the  one  which  should  receive 
most  careful  consideration.  (See  chapter  on 
Health.) 

One  large  mining  company  in  Kentucky  raises  its 
own  timbers  by  planting  trees  in  straight,  close 
rows  on  its  coal  land,  thus  making  the  land  pro- 
duce its  own  mine  timbers  to  conserve  the  coal 
below.     This  company  claims  to  have  lost  but  one 


134  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

life  in  ten  years,  and  to  save  seventy-five  per  cent, 
of  its  coal.  This  is  a  striking  illustration  of  what 
better  mining  methods  will  do  for  both  the  miner 
and  the  mine  owner  and  of  how  forestry  may  be 
an  aid  to  the  conservation  of  coal  and  also  of  human 
life  in  the  mines. 

We  have  already  shown  how  half  of  the  coal  is 
wasted,  but  there  still  remains  another  source  of 
waste  at  the  mines.  This  is  a  large  but  unknown 
quantity.  Coal  usually  exists  in  beds  or  layers  with 
shale  or  rock  between,  much  as  a  "  layer-cake  "  is 
made,  the  layers  of  cake  being  represented  by  the 
coal  and  the  icing  between  by  these  "  rock-partings," 
as  they  are  called.  In  rich  fields,  there  are  from 
three  to  ten  of  these  rich  layers  or  beds  of  coal,  one 
above  another.  It  often  happens  that  the  thickest 
and  best  layer  is  the  lowest,  and  when  this  is  the 
case,  it  is  usually  mined  first,  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  some,  and  possibly  all,  of  the  higher  beds  are 
dislocated  and  broken  or  filled  with  deadly  gases. 
Nearly  all  this  loss  could  be  avoided  by  simply 
mining  the  upper  stratum  first. 

So  much  for  waste  at  the  mines.  This  is  serious 
enough  if  it  were  all,  but  it  is  not  all,  it  is  only  the 
beginning.  Let  us  see  now  what  becomes  of  the 
coal  that  is  marketed.  The  railroads  are  the  largest 
single  users  of  coal,  and  here  we  are  confronted 
with  the  surprising  statement  that  our  locomotives 


COAL  135 

consume  three  tons  of  coal  in  doing  the  same  work 
that  is  performed  by  English  locomotives  with  one 
ton.  This  difference  is  said  to  be  due  to  different 
construction  of  the  engines  themselves,  and  to  more 
careful  stoking,  or  firing.  Our  locomotives  use 
100,000,000  tons  per  year,  and  by  even  the  best 
methods  known  a  large  proportion  of  the  heat  units 
is  wasted.  Great  effort  should  be  made  to  improve 
the  locomotives  so  that  they  will  consume  less  coal; 
but  as  long  as  the  railroad  companies  own  the  coal 
mines,  as  they  do  in  many  instances,  they  can  obtain 
coal  so  cheaply  that  the  cost  of  the  improved  form 
of  engine  is  greater  than  the  amount  saved. 

Another  great  use  lies  in  the  manufacture  of  coke, 
which  is  used  in  the  making  of  steel,  and  here,  too, 
we  see  where  great  wastes  have  existed.  The  old 
form  of  coke-oven  was  called  the  bee-hive  on  ac- 
count of  its  shape.  These  old  style  ovens  consume 
all  the  coal  with  the  exception  of  the  fixed  carbon 
which  is  left  behind  as  coke.  At  the  prices  which 
prevailed  in  1907,  the  value  of  the  by-products 
wasted  in  bee-hive  coke-ovens  was  a  little  over  $55,- 
000,000  —  surely  a  loss  worth  considering.  A  dif- 
ferent form  of  coke-ovens  is  much  used  abroad 
and  is  coming  into  use  in  this  country.  This  is 
the  retort  or  by-product  oven,  sometimes  called  the 
recovery  oven. 

The  bee-hive  ovens  are  usually  located  near  the 


136  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

mines  where  the  cost  of  coal  is  low,  with  small  ex- 
pense for  transporting  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
by-product  ovens  are  established  near  the  larger 
cities  in  order  to  dispose  of  their  gas  and  other  by- 
products. Here  the  cost  of  transportation  must  be 
added  to  that  of  the  coal,  but  the  products  are 
marketed  near  by  instead  of  at  a  distance,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  bee-hive  ovens.  The  most  improved 
by-product  ovens  produce  not  only  coke  and  gas,  but 
coal-tar,  pitch,  ammonia,  and  creosoting  oils,  all  ex- 
tremely valuable  and  adding  greatly  to  the  value  of 
the  output  of  the  ovens. 

Electricity  is  another  form  of  light  and  power 
which  involves  a  large  waste  of  the  energy  of  coal; 
only  one-fifth  of  one  per  cent.,  that  is,  one-five  hun- 
dredth of  the  value  of  the  coal  is  used  in  electricity, 
and  there  is  at  present  no  known  remedy  for  this. 

There  are  methods,  however,  of  lessening  even 
this  waste,  and  these  are  constantly  receiving  more 
attention.  One  is  for  the  electric  plants  located  in 
cities  to  sell  their  exhaust  steam  or  water  heated 
by  the  coal  as  it  is  converted  into  electric  power,  as 
a  by-product.  The  electric  power-house  thus  be- 
comes a  central  heating  plant  to  supply  stores,  of- 
fices, and  residences.  Another  system  being  tried 
abroad,  though  scarcely  past  the  experimental 
stage  in  this  country,  establishes  great  electric 
power-houses  at  the  coal  mines  to  use  the  culm, 


COAL  137 

low-grade  slack,  and  lignites,  the  lowest  form  of 
coal,  in  short,  all  the  waste  of  the  mines.  Still 
another  plan  is  the  manufacturing  of  electricity  by 
water-power,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter. 

The  manufacturing  industries  of  the  country 
waste  a  large  amount  of  fuel  annually,  but  here  the 
waste  is  mostly  due  to  expensive  methods  of  pro- 
ducing power,  and  to  careless  stoking,  and  is  largely 
preventable.  As  we  have  shown,  gas-engines  are 
a  far  more  economical  form  of  producing  power 
than  are  steam-engines.  Steam  uses  from  five  to 
ten  per  cent,  of  the  heat-units  of  coal,  gas-producer 
engines  use  fifty  per  cent,  and  burn  a  lower  grade 
of  coal. 

One  of  the  great  problems  of  cities  is  the 
heavy  volume  of  bituminous  or  soft  coal  smoke 
that  hangs  over  the  entire  surrounding  region, 
levying  a  heavy  tax  in  cleaning  and  laundry  work, 
making  the  air  difficult  to  breathe,  and  shutting  out 
the  daylight  itself.  Every  residence  adds  its  mite, 
but  the  factories  and  public  buildings  are  the  worst 
offenders.  There  are  several  good  smoke-consum- 
ing devices  on  the  market  that  have  been  thoroughly 
tested  by  the  government,  which  will  furnish  their 
names  on  application. 

If  factory  owners  who  use  steam  power  could 
realize  that  the  gases,  the  highest  heat-producing 
part  of  the  coal,  escape  with  the  smoke,  and  that 


138  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

by  using  smoke  consumers  they  not  only  prevent 
all  the  evils  of  the  smoke  nuisance  but  save  fully 
half  of  the  value  of  their  coal,  they  would  gladly 
put  in  this  equipment.  What  manufacturer  would 
not  eagerly  welcome  any  device  that  would  cut  his 
fuel  bills  in  half? 

The  other  cause  of  waste  of  coal  in  the  manu- 
facturing industries  is  recklessness  in  the  use  of 
fuel,  filling  the  furnaces  with  the  drafts  so  dis- 
posed that  much  of  the  heat  is  wasted.  Every  fac- 
tory owner  should  learn  (from  the  government 
reports  if  he  has  no  other  means  of  learning)  the 
best  methods  of  firing  furnaces,  and  should  employ 
them  in  his  factory. 

The  last  great  waste  of  coal  is  in  households. 
In  stoves  and  furnaces,  and  to  a  certain  extent  in 
kitchen  ranges,  this  waste  is  through  carelessness 
in  firing,  as  it  is  in  factories.  There  still  remains 
a  large  amount  of  wasted  energy  in  cooking  that 
is  unavoidable.  The  amount  of  coal  consumed  be- 
fore certain  articles  can  be  cooked,  the  heat  re- 
maining after  the  meal  is  prepared,  are  wastes  that 
it  seems  impossible  to  prevent,  though  wise  man- 
agement will  prevent  undue  waste  even  here.  Fire- 
less  cookers,  an  invention  of  recent  years,  go  far 
toward  solving  the  problem  of  waste  by  long  hours 
of  cooking  single  articles,  and  each  year  we  see 
more  prepared   food  bought  in  order  to  save  the 


COAL  139 

cost  of  heat.  Housekeepers  find  that  it  does  not 
pay  to  bake  their  bread  themselves,  since  a  dozen 
loaves  can  be  baked  in  a  large  oven  with  the  fuel 
used  in  baking  one  at  home. 

Briquettes  are  a  new  form  of  fuel  made  from 
coal,  principally  for  household  use.  They  are 
made  from  the  low-grade  coals,  culm,  slack  and 
lignites,  blended  with  coal-tar  pitch.  They  are 
commonly  used  not  only  in  households,  but  for  lo- 
comotives and  ships,  in  several  European  countries, 
especially  Germany ;  but  in  this  country  the  cost  of 
making  them  —  about  a  dollar  per  ton  —  makes  the 
retail  price  higher  than  the  cheaper  grades  of  coal, 
and  their  general  introduction  at  the  price  of  the 
higher  grades  is  rather  slow. 

Let  it  always  be  kept  in  mind  that  we  must  not 
check  the  careful  use,  only  the  waste,  and  the  best 
way  to  avoid  an  unnecessary  drain  on  the  coal  and 
at  the  same  time  increase  our  manufactures  is  to 
substitute  other  power.  Coal  is  only  a  form  of 
energy  that  came  originally  from  the  sun.  The 
same  causes  that  produced  coal  still  exist.  Scien- 
tists tell  us  that  coal  is  still  being  made,  but  it  will 
take  thousands  of  years  to  perfect  it.  If  we  could 
only  learn  to  take  the  sun's  heat  directly  and  use  it 
for  our  heat,  light,  and  power,  it  would  be  one  of 
the  greatest  discoveries  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
greater  even  than  the  discovery  of  electricity. 


I40  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  produce  power 
directly  from  the  sun  through  solar  engines,  or 
by  concentrating  it  in  furnaces.  At  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition  a  few  years  ago,  a  Portuguese  priest  ex- 
hibited a  solar  engine  called  a  heliophore,  in  which, 
by  means  of  the  sun's  rays,  the  temperature  was 
raised  to  6000  degrees  F.,  and  a  cube  of  iron 
placed  in  it  melted  like  a  snowball.  The  sun  helps 
to  raise  the  tides  and  some  day  they  may  be  used 
to  produce  power.  Many  experiments  are  being 
made  with  both  solar  and  tidal  energy,  some  of 
them  successful  in  a  small  way,  but  nothing  that 
is  ready  to  stand  the  test  of  every-day  use  has  been 
devised. 

Doctor  Pritchell  says  that  on  a  clear  day  when 
the  sun  is  high,  it  delivers  upon  each  acre  of  the 
earth's  surface  exposed  to  its  rays,  the  equal  of 
7,500  horse-power  working  continually.  If  the  ex- 
tra energy  not  needed  for  the  growth  of  plants  and 
animals  could  be  used,  all  the  work  of  the  world 
could  be  done  and  the  problem  of  fuel  supply  would 
be  solved  for  ever. 

But  the  greatest  conservation  of  coal  possible  at 
present  lies  in  the  use  of  the  water-power  which  now 
goes  to  waste,  and  which,  if  employed,  would,  as 
,we  have  seen,  give  us  30,000,000  horse-power,  or 
more  than  all  that  is  now  produced  from  fuel  by 
all  our  engines  combined. 


COAL  141 

Alabama  offers  a  striking  illustration  of  this 
failure  to  take  advantage  of  our  opportunities,  for 
Alabama  has  both  coal  and  water-power.  Engi- 
neers estimate  that  the  three  principal  rivers  have 
power  equal  to  436,000  horse-power.  At  Muscle 
Shoals,  on  the  Tennessee  River,  there  is  now  de- 
veloped 188,000  horse-power,  second  only  to  Ni- 
agara—  and  if  the  waters  were  conserved,  the 
figures  would  reach  1,084,000  horse-power  on  the 
three  rivers.  This  means  that,  according  to  the 
amount  of  coal  required  to  produce  each  horse- 
power of  energy,  it  would  require  11,201,000  tons 
of  coal  each  year  to  produce  by  steam  as  much 
power  as  these  streams  might  easily  be  made  to 
produce. 

Alabama,  as  we  have  said,  is  also  a  great  coal 
state.  It  is  now  mining  about  14,000,000  tons  per 
year  and  only  four  states  produce  a  larger  amount. 
It  will  be  seen  that  four  tons  out  of  five  mined  in 
this  state  will  be  needed  to  produce  by  steam  the 
power  that  is  going  to  waste  in  its  rivers.  The 
Honorable  W.  P.  Lay,  of  the  Alabama  Conserva- 
tion Commission,  in  calling  attention  to  this  fact, 
says: 

"  Suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  coal  fields  of 
Alabama  were  sliding  down  an  incline  and  pouring 
off  over  a  precipice  at  the  rate  of  11,201,000  tons 
per  year,  how  long  would  it  take  the  people  of  the 


142  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

United  States  to  do  something  to  try  to  stop  such 
a  waste?  Yet  what  else  are  we  doing  when  we  sit 
idly  by  and  let  the  water  of  these  streams  go  to 
waste  over  a  precipice  while  we  ourselves  burn  up 
the  coal?" 

And  what  is  true  in  Alabama  is  true  to  a  lesser 
extent  in  most  of  the  states.  Wherever  water- 
power  is  going  to  waste,  coal  is  being  used  to  take 
its  place,  and  that  coal  is  needed  in  some  place  where 
there  is  no  water-power. 

On  a  certain  stream  in  one  of  the  central  states 
was  a  fine  waterfall.  The  early  settlers  built  a  mill 
there.  The  water  turned  the  mill-wheel  and  then 
passed  on  to  water  the  valley  and  turn  other  mill- 
wheels.  But  one  night  the  old  mill  was  destroyed 
by  fire.  It  was  not  rebuilt,  but  some  distance  from 
the  stream  a  new  steam  mill  was  built,  the  motive 
power  of  which  was  natural  gas.  When,  after  a  few 
years,  the  natural  gas  was  all  gone,  the  miller  began 
to  use  coal,  and  he  still  uses  coal  —  hundreds  of  tons 
of  it  —  while  the  water  which  once  turned  the 
wheels,  runs  idly  over  the  falls.  This  is  an  example 
of  wholly  useless  waste  of  coal,  and  just  such  waste 
is  to  be  found  in  hundreds  of  places  in  our  country. 

If  wise  mining  methods  be  put  into  operation,  if 
proper  care  be  taken  in  its  use,  particularly  in  man- 
ufacturing, if  the  low-grade  coals  be  utilized,  and 
if  other  power  be  substituted  wherever  practicable, 


COAL  143 

there  need  be  no  question  of  shortage.  There  is 
enough  coal  in  the  ground,  if  used  rightly,  to  last 
for  ages  to  come.  But  because  we  have  wasted 
vast  quantities  of  it  in  the  past,  and  are  still  wast- 
ing it,  so  that  if  the  same  conditions  continue  we 
can  distinctly  see  the  end  in  sight,  it  is  important 
that  every  one  understands  what  these  conditions  of 
use  and  waste  are,  and  how  the  abuse  may  be  cor- 
rected, so  that  mine  owners  and  consumers  may  all 
work  together  to  preserve  this  most  necessary  re- 
source. 

REFERENCES 

Coal  is  King.    Hewette. 

Economical  Burning  of  Coal  Without  Smoke.    Bement. 
Coal  and  Coal  Mines.    H.  Green. 

International  Library  of  Technology.     Vols.  37  and  38. 
Reports  of  Geological  Survey. 
Report  National  Conservation  Commission. 
Conservation  of  Mineral  Resources.     (U.  S.  Report.) 
Production  of  Coals  in  the  U.  S.  in  1908.    Advance  chap- 
ters available. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OTHER    FUELS 
WOOD 

Wood,  which  was  formerly  the  only  fuel  used 
in  this  country,  has  now  largely  given  place  to 
other  fuels.  In  rural  districts  and  in  lumber  re- 
gions it  is  still  used  extensively;  but  in  the  cities, 
larger  towns,  and  manufacturing  regions,  it  is  not 
used  in  commercial  quantities.  Its  use  for  power 
production  is  limited  to  the  wood-working  factories 
which  have  a  large  amount  of  waste  lumber  and 
which  employ  this  by-product  to  furnish  heat  for 
steam  boilers. 

The  wood  used  for  fuel  or  for  power  usually 
represents  what  would  otherwise  be  lost,  the  dead 
trees  and  the  unmarketable  timber  of  the  farmer's 
wood-lot,  the  refuse  of  lumber  regions  or  the  waste 
of  wood-working  factories.  So  that  the  use  of 
wood  as  fuel  now  generally  means  the  conservation 
of  our  coal  supply,  and  a  use  for  the  low-grade  parts 
of  the  forest. 

In  some  cases,  however,  farmers  cut  for  fuel 
144 


OTHER  FUELS  145 

fine  young  trees  that  would  grow  into  excellent  tim- 
ber. Liberal  planting  of  trees  so  that  wood  shall 
become  plentiful  in  all  parts  of  the  country  will  tend 
to  bring  about  again  a  larger  use  of  wood  as  fuel, 
which  will  thus  once  more  become  a  factor  in  the 
saving  of  our  coal.  Every  farmer  should  learn  to 
save  all  valuable  trees  for  lumber,  and  to  use  only 
undesirable  ones  for  fuel. 

PEAT 

Peat  is  said  by  geologists  to  be  only  "  coal  in  the 
making,"  carbon  that  is  in  the  state  of  changing 
from  vegetable  matter  to  coal.  It  is  probable  that 
in  the  course  of  centuries  this  would  become  coal, 
and  in  its  present  state  it  has  many  of  the  proper- 
ties of  coal,  though  it  has  not  nearly  so  high  a  heat- 
ing value. 

In  this  country  we  have  had  such  a  wealth  of  fuel 
resources  —  coal,  wood,  oil,  and  gas  —  that  up  to 
the  present  time  we  have  done  little  to  develop  our 
peat  beds,  although  in  European  countries  ten 
million  tons  are  used  annually  for  fuel,  as  well  as 
large  quantities  for  other  purposes.  From  the 
earliest  times  peat  has  been  the  principal  fuel  of 
the  common  people  of  Ireland  and  some  of  the 
countries  of  northern  Europe. 

Now,  however,  people  are  trying  to  make  the 
best  of  many  resources  not  heretofore  developed, 


146  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

coal  prices  are  steadily  advancing  and  the  two 
causes  combine  to  turn  people's  attention  to  the  peat 
beds  of  America.  One  point  that  is  worthy  of 
notice  is  that  peat  is  found  mostly  in  regions  where 
there  is  no  coal,  oil,  or  natural  gas.  The  develop- 
ment of  peat  beds  in  those  regions,  it  will  be  seen, 
would  give  them  a  great  advantage  in  the  matter 
of  cheap  fuel. 

Large  peat  beds  are  found  in  Minnesota,  Wis- 
consin, Michigan,  New  York,  New  England,  New 
Jersey,  Florida,  the  Dakotas,  northern  Iowa,  Illi- 
nois, Indiana,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  eastern  Vir- 
ginia, the  Carolinas  and  Georgia;  and  near 
the  coast  in  the  gulf  states,  and  a  narrow 
strip  along  the  Pacific  coast,  from  southern 
California  to  the  Canadian  border.  They  cover 
an  area  of  about  ii,ooo  square  miles  and  are 
supposed  to  contain  not  less  than  14,000,000,000 
tons  of  air-dried  peat.  At  the  rate  of  three  dollars 
per  ton,  which  is  a  reasonable  price  in  the  states 
having  no  coal,  this  peat  would  have  a  value  of  more 
than  $40,000,000,000. 

Peat  is  prepared  for  use  as  common  fuel  in  two 
ways:  (i)  By  cutting  it  into  blocks  or  bricks, 
which  are  air-dried  by  exposure  to  sun  and  wind 
for  a  few  weeks.  This  is  called  "  cut  peat,"  is  bulky 
and  easily  breakable,  and  can  be  used  only  for  local 
consumption.      (2)   By  digging  either  by  hand  or 


OTHER  FUELS  147 

machine,  and  grinding  it  in  a  mill.  It  is  put  in 
wet,  ground,  cut  with  rapidly  turning  knives,  and 
passed  out  of  the  machine  as  a  thick  pulp  that  is 
cut  into  bricks  as  it  comes  out.  It  is  then  stored 
several  weeks  until  thoroughly  dried.  This  is  called 
*'  machine  peat,"  "  pressed  peat,"  or  "  condensed 
peat." 

Peat  is  being  used  in  many  ways,  (i)  Air- 
dried  peat  is  used  for  fuel  only,  (2)  Dry  peat 
without  a  binder,  or  mixed  with  coal  dust  and  tar 
or  pitch  is  used  for  the  same  purpose.  (3)  Ma- 
chine peat  is  used  for  many  purposes,  among  them 
making  into  briquettes,  peat  charcoal,  and  peat  coke. 

It  has  been  found  practical  to  make  illuminating 
gas  of  peat,  but  a  far  more  general  use  is  for  run- 
ning gas-engines  and  producer-gas  furnaces.  This 
is  a  practical  use  for  it,  since  it  will  conserve  the 
coal  now  used  for  that  purpose,  furnish  satisfactory 
power  without  smoke  or  dirt,  provide  cheap  power 
in  regions  that  have  no  coal  mines,  and  lastly  may 
be  made  to  yield  valuable  by-products:  ammonia, 
acetic  acid,  paraffin,  tar,  creosote,  and  wood-alcohol. 
If  all  the  peat  in  the  United  States  could  be  used  in 
producer-gas  engines  the  ammonia  yielded  would 
alone  have  a  value  of  $36,000,000,000. 

Peat  is  also  used  for  packing  material,  as  a  fer- 
tilizer, for  manufacturing  paper,  for  coarse  cloth  and 
mattress  filling.     By  mixing  wet  machine  peat  with 


148  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

cement  it  may  be  made  into  blocks  for  paving  and 
other  construction  work.  The  most  promising 
uses  are  for  fuel,  as  bedding  for  stock,  as  a  disin- 
fectant, in  briquettes  for  burning  lime,  brick,  and 
pottery,  in  which  it  is  finding  a  large  use,  and  for 
which  it  is  said  to  be  particularly  well  fitted;  and 
most  satisfactory  of  all,  its  use  in  gas-producer 
engines.  In  Florida  an  immense  plant  is  being 
built  to  manufacture  electric  power,  using  air-dried 
peat  as  fuel,  the  power  to  be  transmitted  to  Jack- 
sonville. 

Machine  peat  is  supposed  to  have  sixty-five  per 
cent,  the  value  of  the  same  weight  of  Pocahontas 
coal,  but  on  account  of  the  lack  of  waste  in  peat  its 
real  value  is  higher  than  would  appear  from  the 
comparison.  From  two  to  two  and  a  half  pounds 
will  produce  one  horse-power  per  hour  in  gas-pro- 
ducer engines.  By  this  estimate,  we  can  see  that 
the  peat  beds  of  this  country,  if  properly  used,  may 
be  largely  employed,  either  now  or  in  the  future,  as 
a  substitute  for  the  vanishing  coal. 

NATURAL   GAS 

Of  all  the  fuels,  natural  gas  may  be  said  to  be 
the  ideal  one.  Coming  from  the  ground,  it  is  piped  a 
greater  or  less  distance  and  distributed  to  the  home 
or  factory  for  light,  heat,  or  power;  for  all  of 
which  it  is  equally  desirable.     It  is  ready  for  our 


OTHER  FUELS  149 

use  at  the  turn  of  a  key,  is  absolutely  clean,  having 
neither  dust,  ash,  nor  unconsumed  portions.  It  re- 
quires no  kindling  other  than  a  lighted  match. 

Natural  gas  is  found  over  an  area  which,  if  com- 
bined, would  cover  almost  10,000  square  miles.  It 
exists  in  twenty-two  states  —  Alabama,  California, 
Colorado,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Missouri, 
Montana,  New  York,  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Louisiana, 
Ohio,  Oklahoma,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania,  South  Da- 
kota, Texas,  Utah,  Washington,  West  Virginia, 
Wyoming.  In  some  of  them  the  area  has  been 
large  and  the  production  very  heavy,  in  others  the 
field  is  small  and  unproductive.  Until  the  last  two 
or  three  years  there  have  been  no  statistics  as  to  the 
quantity  of  gas  piped,  but  an  account  of  its  value  has 
been  kept  for  many  years.  For  the  twenty  years 
beginning  with  1888  the  value  is  given  at  nearly 
$500,000,000. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  much  of  this  repre- 
sents extremely  low  prices,  only  the  amount  ac- 
tually paid  for  its  use.  When  gas  is  newly  dis- 
covered in  a  region  it  is  not  considered  an 
opportunity  for  the  residents  of  the  community  to 
have  cheap  light,  power  and  fuel  for  themselves, 
but  instead  as  an  opportunity  to  develop  the  coun- 
try, to  increase  the  population  and  attract  new  fac- 
tories. In  order  to  advertise  and  boom  their  com- 
munities  free  gas  is  usually  offered  to   factories. 


ISO  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

So  in  dozens  of  instances  large  factories  have  been 
operated  for  years  without  a  cent  having  been  paid 
for  fuel.  For  this  reason  no  proper  estimate  can 
be  made  of  the  quantity  of  gas  consumed,  nor  of  its 
value  even  at  a  nominal  price.  In  1907,  (the  last 
year  for  which  complete  returns  have  been  pub- 
lished in  government  reports)  the  amount  of  gas 
consumed  was  given  at  404,000,000  cubic  feet, 
which  at  present  prices  is  valued  at  $63,000,000. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  in  any  way  the  future 
production  of  natural  gas,  or  to  guess  at  the  quan- 
tity remaining  in  the  earth.  It  may  be  much  less 
or  much  more  than  present  conditions  would  in- 
dicate; but  the  present  known  fields  are  limited, 
and  the  pressure  is  growing  steadily  less  in  all  of 
them. 

The  Conservation  Commission  reports,  "  It  is 
safe  to  predict  that  the  known  fields  will  be  ex- 
hausted in  twenty-five  years."  The  decrease  of 
natural  gas  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  Indiana. 
This  state,  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  profited 
directly  by  the  discovery  of  its  natural  gas  about 
twenty  years  ago.  Here,  the  mineral  maps  show, 
is  by  far  the  greatest  natural  gas  region  in  the 
United  States.  With  the  discovery  of  natural  gas, 
established  towns  grew  to  ten  times  their  former 
size  and  new  ones  sprang  up  everywhere.  Indiana, 
which  had  been  chiefly  an  agricultural  state,  bade 


OTHER  FUELS  151 

fair  to  become  one  of  the  foremost  manufacturing 
states  on  account  of  its  cheap  and  abundant  fuel. 
In  1902  Indiana  produced  nearly  $8,000,000  worth 
of  natural  gas,  but  for  1908  the  State  Geologist's 
report  contained  no  figures  for  this  product.  It 
had  ceased  to  be  a  prominent  factor  in  the  wealth  of 
the  state!  There  is  no  resource  that  has  been  so 
shamefully,  so  hopelessly  wasted  as  our  natural 
gas. 

With  even  more  recklessness  than  characterizes 
the  waste  of  our  forests  and  our  coal,  we  have 
allowed  this  perfect  fuel  to  escape.  To  the  dwell- 
ers in  each  region  where  natural  gas  is  found,  it 
seems  that  the  supply  is  inexhaustible.  The  roar 
of  the  wells,  which  makes  the  very  earth  tremble; 
the  flames  springing  high  into  the  air;  the  undi- 
minished pressure  after  months  of  use,  appearing 
to  indicate  a  boundless  reservoir  below ;  the  oppor- 
tunity for  whole  communities  to  grow  rich  by  its 
use;  all  these  things  tend  to  promote  recklessness 
on  the  part  of  all  who  handle  it.  In  the  beginning 
the  wells  are  usually  not  tightly  cased,  and  there  is 
a  considerable  quantity  of  gas  escaping  about  every 
well.  New  wells  are  frequently  lighted  to  show 
the  volume  of  gas.  In  some  cases  the  well  has 
become  uncapped  on  account  of  heavy  pressure  and 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  unconsumed  gas  into  the 
air  it  is  kept  burning  night  and  day.    The  strongest 


152  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

wells  are  often  kept  burning  for  months  in  order  to 
advertise  a  new  gas  field.  In  this  way  immense 
quantities  of  the  most  perfect  fuel  in  the  world 
have  been  wantonly  wasted.  From  a  single  well 
in  eastern  Kentucky  there  flowed  a  steady  stream 
of  gas  for  twenty  years  which  at  present  prices 
would  be  worth  $3,000,000,  and  the  same  story  of 
waste  from  burning  wells  comes  from  every  natural 
gas  field. 

In  a  new  region  where  gas  is  abundant  there  is 
also  a  great  waste  from  leaking  pipe  lines  laid  on 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  from  open  flambeaux, 
and  from  careless  home  and  factory  consumption. 
In  many  communities  the  open  flambeaux  have  been 
employed  to  light  the  streets,  and  allowed  to  burn 
day  and  night  to  avoid  the  expense  of  a  man  to  care 
for  them.  Where  natural  gas  is  abundant,  meters 
are  not  usually  installed;  instead,  gas  is  sold  by  the 
month.  The  consumer  is  under  no  obligation  to 
save  the  gas,  in  fact,  he  usually  acts  on  the  common 
American  principle  of  wanting  to  get  all  he  can 
for  the  money  and  so  burns  his  open  tip  lights, 
and  open  burner  stoves  day  and  night.  The  fac- 
tories waste  in  the  same  way,  using  open  furnaces 
which  are  never  banked  during  the  season  because 
it  is  easier  and  costs  no  more. 

Tliis,  it  seems,  should  be  the  whole  history  of 
natural  gas  waste,  but  the  greatest  source  of  loss 


OTHER  FUELS  153 

still  remains  to  be  spoken  of.  In  every  gas  region 
of  any  importance  oil  is  found  sooner  or  later,  us- 
ually after  the  heaviest  gas  pressure  has  been  ex- 
hausted; and  the  oil  driller  is  the  greatest  of  all 
foes  to  the  life  of  a  natural  gas  region.  He  finds 
that  the  gas  interferes  with  the  flow  of  oil,  spray- 
ing it  into  the  air  and  causing  loss,  and  that  the 
danger  of  fire  is  much  increased  by  its  presence. 
This  frequently  causes  explosions,  tearing  out  the 
side  of  the  well  or  blowing  out  the  casing,  and  mak- 
ing the  oil-well  useless.  The  surplus  gas  is  usually 
piped  to  one  side  out  of  the  reach  of  danger,  and 
then  burned  to  get  rid  of  it.  Drillers  often  try  to 
force  the  gas  out  in  the  hope  that  it  will  be  followed 
by  a  rush  of  oil. 

This  is  the  heaviest  drain  on  the  gas.  In  the 
Caddo  field  in  Louisiana  alone  the  loss  is  seventy 
million  cubic  feet  per  day,  enough  to  light  ten  cities 
the  size  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  equal  to  ten 
thousand  barrels  of  petroleum  per  day.  In  Indiana 
a  few  years  ago  fourteen  wells,  all  within  a  space 
of  a  few  acres  in  extent,  were  burned  by  oil  drillers 
continuously  for  six  months,  the  light  being  visible 
twenty  miles  away. 

Greater  care  in  the  management  of  the  wells  and 
slight  additional  expense  for  casing  are  all  that  is 
required  to  stop  the  waste  of  gas  from  oil  wells  and 
heavy  pressure  gas  wells. 


154  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

All  of  these  wastes  taken  together  constitute  a 
fearful  loss.  In  1907,  more  than  400,cxx),ooo 
cubic  feet  were  used  and  an  almost  equal  number 
wasted.  In  other  words,  the  daily  waste  is  over 
a  billion  cubic  feet,  or  enough  to  supply  every  city 
in  the  United  States  of  over  one  hundred  thousand 
population. 

The  heating  value  of  a  bilHon  feet  of  gas  is  equal 
to  a  million  bushels  of  coal.  If  some  great  con- 
flagration were  sweeping  away  our  coal  fields  stead- 
ily every  day  in  the  year,  and  destroying  our  best 
coal  at  the  rate  of  a  million  bushels  per  day,  how 
quickly  we  should  all  arise  to  aid  in  checking  it! 
And  yet  this  imaginary  case  is  actually  true  in 
regard  to  the  best  fuel  in  this  country,  which  is 
burning  uselessly  an  equal  value  in  coal,  and  our 
coal  must  some  day  be  used  to  supply  the  loss. 

We  are  apt  to  ignore  the  greatness  of  this  loss 
because  the  gas  escapes  into  the  air  and  we  can  not 
see  it,  or  it  burns  and  we  see  only  its  effect,  not 
the  loss  of  fuel,  but  if  we  could  see  it  in  the  form 
of  oil  we  should  find  that  a  billion  feet  of  gas  is 
equal  to  more  than  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
barrels  of  petroleum.  Think  of  it,  the  equivalent 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  barrels  of  oil, 
for  which  no  price  is  paid  and  of  which  no  use  is 
made,  for  ever  destroyed  every  day  in  every  year! 
Would  the  oil  companies  permit   it?     Would  we 


OTHER  FUELS  155 

not  all  assist  them  in  saving  their  property  from  de- 
struction, and  shall  we  not  ask  of  them  equal  help 
in  saving  the  fuel  that  in  turn  conserves  our  coal 
supply?  Little  objection  can  be  made  to  the  pres- 
ent method  of  using  gas  in  the  older  regions.  The 
waste  in  domestic  use  is  comparatively  small. 
Much  is  used  for  lighting  with  incandescent  burn- 
ers, and  asbestos  grates  and  gas  ranges  have  re- 
placed the  open-burner  stoves  and  grates.  These 
are  all  efficient  methods  of  use,  and  but  little  could 
be  done  in  the  way  of  further  conservation.  In  fac- 
tories the  gas-engine  is  in  many  instances  replacing 
the  open  furnace,  which  requires  many  times  as 
much  gas  to  produce  an  equal  amount  of  power. 
They  should  be  used  in  every  factory,  and  gas 
companies  should  also  require  the  use  of  the  best 
devices  for  saving  gas  in  places  where  meters  are 
not  used. 

Until  last  year  but  one  state  —  Indiana  —  had 
an  effective  law  preventing  the  waste  of  natural 
gas  by  oil  companies.  This  law  says  in  substance 
that  a  man  can  not  take  the  oil  from  the  ground 
where  nature  has  safely  stored  it,  unless  he  also 
provide  a  market  for  the  gas  which  accompanies  it. 
It  also  says  that  neither  the  producer  nor  the  con- 
sumer shall  be  allowed  to  waste  this  valuable  fuel, 
as  such  waste  is  against  public  policy. 

Mr.  I.  C.  White,  of  West  Virginia,  in  discussing 


156  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

this  question  at  the  Conservation  Congress  said, 
**  This  Indiana  statute  should  be  enacted  into  law 
in  every  state  where  these  fuels  exist,"  Since  that 
time  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  have  passed  laws,  which 
are  said  to  be  effective,  for  the  conservation  of  nat- 
ural gas. 

Much  has  been  accomplished  by  gas  companies, 
who,  since  they  became  alive  to  the  danger  of  loss 
of  their  investment,  have  been  extremely  watchful 
of  their  property.  In  West  Virginia  the  gas  com- 
panies buy  the  gas  which  has  been  obtained  in  the 
drilling  of  oil  wells,  thus  providing  a  market  for  the 
waste  gas  and  making  it  possible  to  continue  the  oil 
business  and  at  the  same  time  to  furnish  cheap  gas. 

Another  hopeful  sign  is  the  pumping  of  all  of  the 
product  of  a  well.  Formerly  as  soon  as  a  well 
dropped  greatly  in  production  it  was  abandoned, 
but  now  it  is  pumped  until  dry. 

One  method  by  which  the  gas  from  oil  wells  may 
be  utilized  consists  in  compressing  it  in  steel  cylin- 
ders for  shipping.  This  in  a  small  way  has  been 
found  to  be  successful. 

Experiments  are  being  tried  on  a  large  scale  in 
Ohio  to  prove  that  gas  may  be  returned  to  reser- 
voirs within  the  earth  which  are  tight  enough  to 
hold  it  under  heavy  pressure. 

Fuel  gas  made  from  low-grade  coal  is  a  satis- 
factory substitute  for  natural  gas.     Like  the  natural 


OTHER  FUELS  157 

product  it  may  be  piped  for  long  distances.  Some 
natural  gas  companies  have  bought  up  the  culm 
banks  and  heaps  of  refuse  coal,  so  that  if  the  natural 
gas  becomes  exhausted  they  can  manufacture  cheap 
gas  at  the  mines  and  pipe  it  to  the  cities  they  now 
serve. 

PETROLEUM 

Petroleum,  or  rock  oil,  is  a  dark  greenish 
brown  liquid  which  when  refined  yields  gasolene, 
naphtha,  benzine,  kerosene,  lubricating  oils,  and 
paraffin.  The  name  petroleum  applies  only  to  the 
crude  petroleum  as  it  comes  from  the  ground,  and 
the  word  oil  is  applied  to  the  products  obtained  by 
refining. 

The  early  history  of  the  petroleum  industry  in 
this  country  is  interesting  as  showing  what  great 
results  spring  from  small  beginnings.  From  salt 
wells  in  Pennsylvania  there  was  an  occasional  flow 
of  petroleum,  but  it  had  had  no  commercial  value. 
Samuel  Kier,  of  Pittsburg,  had  salt  wells  at  Tar- 
antum  from  which  he  had  accumulated  so  much 
petroleum  (fifty  barrels)  that  he  decided  to  try  to 
dispose  of  it,  but  there  was  no  market.  No  one 
knew  what  to  do  with  it.  He  then  partly  refined  it, 
making  a  poor  quality  of  kerosene,  and  intro- 
duced a  lamp  with  a  chimney.  This  proved  so 
popular  that  A.  C.  Ferris,  also  of  Pittsburg,  under- 


158  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

took  to  sell  this  in  other  cities,  and  these  two  men 
not  only  sold  the  fifty  barrels  and  the  other  petro- 
leum that  accumulated  from  the  salt  wells,  but  they 
had  created  such  a  demand  for  the  new  light  that 
they  could  not  supply  enough  oil,  and  in  1859 
Colonel  Drake  drilled  at  Titusville  the  first  well 
solely  for  petroleum.  In  the  half-century  since  that 
time  nearly  two  billion  barrels,  or  almost  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  million  tons,  worth  one  and  three- 
quarter  billion  dollars,  have  been  produced. 

Petroleum  is  now  mined,  or  drilled,  in  many 
countries  besides  the  United  States,  but  the  United 
States  furnishes  sixty-three  barrels  out  of  every 
hundred  produced  in  the  world.  Russia  produces 
twenty-one  barrels,  Austria  four,  and  the  East  Indies 
three  barrels,  Roumania  two,  India  and  Mexico  one 
each,  Canada,  Japan,  Germany,  Peru,  and  Italy  each 
less  than  one  barrel;  so  we  can  see  that  the  United 
States  is  the  one  great  producer  of  petroleum,  and 
that  it  is  to  this  country  that  we  must  look  for  the 
principal  world  supply  for  the  present,  and  as  far 
as  known,  for  the  future.  Let  us  see,  then,  what 
we  may  expect  the  United  States  to  do  to  supply 
this  demand. 

The  known  petroleum  lands  cover  an  area  of 
about  8,500  square  miles  and  are  in  six  large  fields 
and  several  smaller  ones.  The  largest  and  best 
is  the  Appalachian,  of  which  the  best  known  is  the 


OTHER  FUELS  159 

Pennsylvania  field.  It  has  a  grade  of  petroleum 
that  differs  from  any  other  thus  far  found  in  the 
world.  It  is  most  easily  converted  into  kerosene  or 
lamp  oil,  and  contains  a  larger  proportion  of  such  oil. 
It  is  the  finest  petroleum  in  the  world,  except  that 
found  in  Indiana  and  Ohio,  and  that  costs  more  to 
refine. 

The  Appalachian  field  includes,  besides  Pennsyl- 
vania, western  New  York,  West  Virginia,  a  narrow 
strip  in  eastern  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
These  southern  oils  are  of  a  much  lower  grade, 
but  are  better  than  the  Russian  or  other  foreign  oils. 

The  next  great  field  is  called  the  Lima-Indiana, 
and  covers  a  considerable  portion  of  northwestern 
Ohio  and  eastern  Indiana.  This  petroleum  con- 
tains less  gasolene  and  less  lamp  oils,  and  more 
sulphur,  which  makes  refining  difficult.  The  Illinois 
field  lies  next.  Here,  in  a  strip  about  thirty  miles 
long  and  six  miles  wide  on  an  average,  an  enor- 
mous quantity  of  petroleum  is  produced.  This  oil 
is  slightly  lower  in  quality  and  contains  consider- 
able asphalt. 

The  mid-continent  field  lies  in  Kansas  and  Okla- 
homa. This  petroleum  also  contains  asphalt  and 
other  chemical  products.  Such  immense  amounts 
are  produced  here  that  it  has  not  been  possible  to 
care  for  all  of  it,  either  in  the  matter  of  storage 
tanks  or  cars  for  transporting  it,  and  as  a  result 


i6o  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

large  amounts  have  been  wasted.  In  Oklahoma 
within  a  space  of  less  than  two  square  miles  one 
million  barrels  of  forty-two  gallons  each  of  petro- 
leum were  wasted  in  the  year  1906. 

The  Gulf  field  lying  in  Texas  and  Louisiana  has 
been  developed  entirely  since  1901.  The  first  well 
was  drilled  near  Beaumont,  Texas,  as  an  experiment 
to  determine  whether  oil  could  be  found.  Small 
storage  tanks  were  provided  and  it  was  hoped  to 
find  oil  enough  to  make  drilling  profitable.  The 
well  proved  to  be  a  "  gusher  "of  such  magnitude 
that  before  sufficient  tanks  could  be  provided,  or 
the  flow  checked,  more  than  half  a  million  barrels 
were  wasted  on  the  ground. 

The  Gulf  petroleum  contains  a  large  amount  of 
asphalt  and  a  small  amount  of  gasolene  and  lamp 
oil.  It  has  been  used  principally  for  burning  as 
crude  oil  in  locomotives  and  has  sold  as  low  as  ten 
cents  per  barrel;  but  lately  methods  of  refining  have 
been  perfected  which  produce  good  lubricating  oil 
and  a  gasolene  of  high  value  from  these  low-grade 
oils. 

The  last  great  field  is  found  in  California.  The 
oil  is  similar  to  the  Gulf  oil,  and  investigation  has 
shown  that  the  quantity  is  greater  in  this  field  than 
in  any  other.  It  is  used  largely  for  fuel  and  power 
on  account  of  lack  of  other  fuels  in  that  region. 

In  addition  to  these  fields  there  are  small  ones 


OTHER  FUELS  i6i 

in  Colorado  and  Wyoming,  and  promises  of  fields 
in  New  Mexico,  Utah,  Idaho,  Montana,  Oregon 
and  Washington. 

Estimates  of  the  amounts  of  petroleum  yielded 
are  made  by  computing  the  amount  usually  produced 
per  acre,  which  varies  from  eight  hundred  barrels 
produced  in  Pennsylvania,  to  eight  thousand  barrels 
per  acre  produced  in  Illinois.  In  most  of  the  fields 
it  is  about  a  thousand  barrels  per  acre.  Even  then 
the  amount  is  extremely  difficult  to  estimate.  The 
Geological  Survey  concludes  that  the  lowest  prob- 
able calculation  of  the  entire  amount  stored  in  the 
rocks  of  the  United  States  is  ten  billion,  and  the 
highest  a  little  less  than  twenty-five  billion  barrels. 
The  last  report  officially  published  shows  that  we 
are  producing  one  hundred  and  seventy  million 
barrels  per  year.  If  the  same  rate  of  production 
continues,  we  might  expect  our  petroleum  to  last 
from  fifty-five  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years, 
according  to  the  amount  found;  but  tables  of  sta- 
tistics show  that  throughout  the  life  of  the  petro- 
leum industry,  as  much  has  been  produced  each 
nine  years  as  the  entire  product  before  that  time. 
For  example,  up  to  the  present,  we  have  produced 
one  billion  eight  hundred  million  barrels  and  if  the 
present  rate  continues,  in  the  next  nine  years  alone 
we  shall  produce  an  equal  quantity  again.  The 
causes  of  such  rapid  growth  are  many.     One  is  the 


i62  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

great  increase  in  the  use  of  some  of  the  products, 
such  as  gasolene,  which  has  increased  many  fold 
since  the  automobile  became  popular.  Another,  and 
the  greatest  cause,  is  the  ease  with  which  any  quan- 
tity of  oil  can  be  sold  for  cash  at  any  time,  and  at 
prices  much  above  the  cost  of  production. 

Another  reason  is  based  upon  the  nature  of  the 
product.  In  pumping  from  one  well  oil  is  apt  to 
flow  in  from  other  leases,  under  other  farms,  and 
exhaust  them  without  the  holders  of  those  leases 
having  received  any  compensating  benefit.  It  is 
therefore  necessary  for  each  lessee  to  get  his  share 
before  it  flows  away.  Under  these  circumstances,  it 
is  impossible  to  prevent  an  entire  field  from  being 
drilled  over  very  rapidly,  unless  there  is  a  combi- 
nation of  all  the  interests;  or  unless  the  law  limits 
the  amount  that  each  producer  shall  extract  per 
acre  within  a  given  time. 

Pennsylvania  and  New  York  have  declined  to 
one-third  their  former  value  and  yet  it  is  only  seven- 
teen years  since  they  reached  their  highest  point. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  life  of  that 
field  will  not  exceed  ten  years.  West  Virginia  is 
producing  only  a  little  more  than  half  its  former 
yield  and  is  rapidly  declining.  Ohio  and  Indiana 
are  declining  more  rapidly  than  Pennsylvania. 
Texas  is  also  in  the  rapidly  declining  class,  and  in 


OTHER  FUELS  163 

Kansas  the  production  is  only  a  fraction  of  what 
it  was  formerly.  On  the  other  hand,  Illinois,  Ok- 
lahoma, and  California  can  be  expected  to  increase 
steadily  for  several  years. 

Taking  into  account  all  these  factors,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  the  entire  supply  now  known  to  exist 
would  be  exhausted  before  the  middle  of  the  pres- 
ent century.  It  appears  more  probable,  however, 
that  increasing  prices  long  before  that  time  will 
help  to  conserve  the  supply ;  and  that  petroleum  will 
be  produced  for  a  long  time  to  come,  though  not 
in  sufficient  quantities  for  industrial  and  general 
use. 

The  principal  uses  of  petroleum  are  for  burning 
as  crude  oil  in  furnaces  and  under  boilers,  particu- 
larly in  locomotives.  The  refined  products  have 
various  uses.  Probably  the  most  important  is  the 
lubricating  oil.  This  is  necessary  in  the  develop- 
ment of  all  kinds  of  power.  At  least  one-half  pint 
of  lubricating  oil  is  used  for  every  ton  of  coal  con- 
sumed for  power.  All  engines,  all  street  and 
steam  railways,  steamships,  sewing-machines,  clocks, 
watches,  and  automobiles,  in  fact  all  operating  ma- 
chinery requires  its  use;  so  that  a  large  amount 
of  oil  must  always  be  conserved  for  lubricating  pur- 
poses. 

Coal  oil,  or  kerosene,  may  be  regarded  as  abso- 


i64  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

lutely  necessary  for  the  lighting  of  houses  or  other 
estabHshments  not  connected  with  gas  or  electric 
supply. 

Gasolene  is  sometimes  used  for  lighting,  though 
such  use  is"  not  common.  It  is  largely  used  for 
cooking,  and  still  more  largely  used  in  the  various 
types  of  gasolene  engines. 

Naphtha  is  used  for  power,  especially  for  motor- 
boats,  and  for  cleaning,  in  which  it  is  very  valuable 
by  reason  of  its  power  to  dissolve  dirt. 

Paraffin  is  used  in  polishing,  in  laundry  work, 
for  waxing  floors,  and  as  a  covering  to  exclude  air  in 
preserving  articles. 

Waste  has  been  markedly  absent  in  the  petro- 
leum industry.  It  is  necessary  that  oil  drilling  out- 
fits shall  contain  steel  storage  tanks  for  holding 
the  oil  when  it  is  reached.  Usually  the  supply  is 
large  enough,  but  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
big  well  at  Beaumont,  Texas,  the  oil  gushes  forth  in 
such  volume  that  the  drillers  are  not  prepared  to  take 
care  of  the  overflow,  and  much  is  wasted  before 
the  well  can  be  capped.  In  general  there  is  no 
waste  in  storage  in  this  country.  In  European 
countries  where  there  is  oil,  the  loss  through  lack 
of  tanks  and  by  using  wooden  tanks  which  leak, 
is  very  great. 

Another  form  of  waste  which  is  common  in  for- 
eign countries,  but  which  has  been  avoided  in  the 


OTHER  FUELS  165 

United  States,  is  evaporation  of  gasolene  and 
similar  light  products  when  the  petroleum  is 
exposed  to  the  air  in  open  tanks.  This  is  the 
most  valuable  part  of  petroleum,  and  if  it  be  ex- 
posed to  the  sun  a  single  day  it  loses  greatly  in 
value. 

The  refining  processes  of  the  petroleum  industry 
are  probably  carried  out  with  better  system  and  less 
waste  than  in  any  other  resource,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  business  is  controlled  by  large  companies. 
There  is  no  waste  material  in  its  manufacture,  ex- 
cept some  slight  residue  that  might  be  used  for 
oiling  roads,  instead  of  using  the  crude  oil.  The 
principal  waste  lies  in  its  use.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  supply  is  not  unending,  is,  indeed,  rapidly 
disappearing,  the  uses  should  be  confined  only  to 
the  necessary  lines  for  which  there  are  no  substi- 
tutes at  similar  prices.  These  are  for  lubricating 
oils  and  for  the  lighting  of  homes.  The  unnec- 
essary uses  are  for  burning  in  locomotives  and  for 
the  development  of  power. 

Whenever  new  petroleum  fields  are  opened  up, 
there  is  a  corresponding  drop  in  price.  In  order 
to  dispose  of  it  quickly  such  petroleum  is  usually 
sold  for  the  lowest  grade  uses,  and  the  price  for 
this  crude  petroleum  is  not  more  than  one  hun- 
dredth as  much  as  for  high  grade  petroleum 
products.     The  report  of  the  National  Conserva- 


i66  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

tion  Commission  is  so  excellent  that  it  is  quoted 
almost  word  for  word. 

"  At  present  more  petroleum  is  being  produced 
than  is  necessary  for  the  demands  of  the  industry. 
Within  ten  years  the  present  fields  will  be  unable 
profitably  to  produce  enough  for  these  require- 
ments. The  only  direction  in  which  production  can 
be  checked  is  with  the  petroleum  contained  in  public 
lands. 

"  Offering  such  public  lands  for  entry  at  a  low 
price  is  nothing  more  than  temptation  to  the  private 
citizen  to  waste  petroleum  by  over  production,  since 
lands  yielding  hundreds  of  dollars  per  acre  in  this 
product  can  be  obtained  for  a  small  sum.  Every 
acre  of  public  land,  believed  to  contain  petroleum 
or  natural  gas,  should  be  withdrawn  from  public 
sale  and  leased  under  conditions  that  regulate  pro- 
duction. 

"  Its  use  for  power  is  justified  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  if  used  in  gas-producer  engines." 

ALCOHOL 

As  a  substitute  for  other  fuels,  wood,  or  de- 
naturated  alcohol,  will  probably  come  into  greater 
use  each  year,  and  is  regarded  by  many  as  the  great 
fuel  of  the  future,  because  the  materials  of  which 
it  is  made  are  waste  vegetable  products  and  will  al- 
ways be  plentiful. 


OTHER  FUELS  167 

It  is  made  from  cellulose,  the  woody  part  of 
plants,  and  may  be  manufactured  from  sawdust 
when  freshly  cut  from  live  trees,  from  small  and 
refuse  potatoes,  from  inferior  grain  that  is  not 
worth  marketing,  and  from  low-grade  fruits  and 
vegetables  of  all  kinds.  It  is  even  said  that  the 
hundreds  of  acres  of  sage-brush  in  the  West  that 
have  always  been  considered  worse  than  useless 
can  be  made  into  wood-alcohol  and  thus  become  a 
valuable  product. 

It  can  be  used  for  any  purpose  that  gasolene  can, 
although  a  different  style  burner  is  required.  It 
must  be  made  much  hotter  before  it  is  changed  into 
vapor,  and  on  account  of  this  it  has  been  difficult  to 
make  satisfactory  burners  for  all  the  kinds  of  heat- 
ing, lighting,  and  power  work;  the  machinery  being 
far  from  perfect  as  yet.  Wood-alcohol  can  not  yet 
be  made  cheaper  than  gasolene,  and  is  not  so  easy 
to  bum,  so  that  it  is  slow  in  reaching  an  important 
place  in  the  industrial  world;  but  gas  and  gasolene 
prices  will  advance,  and  better  methods  of  manu- 
facturing and  burning  alcohol  will  be  found,  and 
then  we  shall  have  a  fuel  that  can  take  the  place  of 
either  coal  or  petroleum  for  lighting  or  power. 

It  is  thought  that  wood-alcohol  will  be  of  especial 
use  to  the  farmer,  since  he  has  so  many  waste  vege- 
table products,  has  so  much  need  of  power  in  small 
quantities  and  is   far  from  the  sources  of  public 


i68  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

service  power,  such  as  electric  and  gas  plants.  Al- 
cohol-driven motors  can  be  used  to  take  the  place 
of  the  labor  of  both  horses  and  men  on  the  farm. 
On  level  farms  they  can  run  the  heavy  machines, 
such  as  mowers,  reapers,  and  binders,  plows  and 
cultivators.  On  any  farm  they  may  be  used  to 
run  stationary  engines,  to  chop  and  grind  food  for 
live  stock,  to  pump  water,  churn,  run  sewing-ma- 
chines, operate  fans,  drive  carriages  and  wagons 
and  do  many  other  things. 

Wood-alcohol  produces  ammonia  as  a  by-prod- 
uct, is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  dyes  and  coal- 
tar  products,  of  smokeless  powder,  of  varnishes, 
and  of  imitation  silks  made  from  cotton. 

REFERENCES 

Report  National  Conservation  Commission. 

Reports  of  Geological  Survey. 

Conservation  of  Ores  and  Related  Minerals.  (Carnegie.) 
Report  Governor's  Conference. 

Conservation  of  Mineral  Resources.  (U.  S.  Government 
Report.) 

Industrial  Alcohol  and  Its  Uses.  W.  H.  Wiley.  Bulletin, 
269. 

Production  of  Peat  in  the  U.  S.  in  1908.  U.  S.  Government 
Reports. 

Production  of  Oil  in  the  U.  S.  in  1908. 

Production  of  Gas  in  the  U.  S.  in  1908. 

Waste  of  Our  Fuel  Resources.  (White.)  Report  Gov- 
ernor's Conference. 


CHAPTER  VII 

IRON 

We  have  already  stated  the  importance  of  iron 
in  our  modern  Hfe.  It  can  not  be  overestimated. 
All  the  many  articles  of  iron  and  steel,  our  tools, 
our  machinery,  our  vehicles,  our  bridges,  our  steel 
buildings,  and  a  thousand  and  one  other  things  are 
dependent  on  our  iron  supply. 

Of  all  the  elements  that  make  up  the  earth's  sur- 
face only  three  are  more  plentiful  than  iron,  so 
that  we  might  think  that  we  should  always  have 
an  abundant  supply  of  it;  but  when  it  occurs  in 
small  quantities,  as  is  usually  the  case,  it  can  not 
of  course  be  profitably  mined.  It  is  only  when 
enough  of  it  is  found  together  to  permit  it  to  be 
mined  to  advantage  that  it  is  called  iron  ore. 

Iron  ore  is  found  in  only  twenty-nine  states  of 
the  Union,  and  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  present  pro- 
duction is  in  two  states,  Minnesota  and  Michigan. 
We  can  see  that  iron  is  very  unevenly  distributed, 
and  it  is  on  a  few  regions  that  we  must  depend 
for  all  the  future. 

Before  we  can  calculate  how  much  iron  we  have 
169 


I70  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

we  must  understand  that  it  is  not  found  in  pure 
form,  but  mixed  with  various  other  substances: 
clay,  shale,  slate,  quartz,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  etc. 
These  must  all  be  removed,  some  by  washing,  but 
most  of  them  by  roasting,  or  "  smelting,"  in  blast 
furnaces,  after  which  it  is  called  pig  iron.  This 
of  course  requires  large  quantities  of  fuel. 

It  is  these  things  and  also  the  position  of  the 
ore  that  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  esti- 
mating the  amount  of  iron  in  the  country.  If  ore 
yields  a  large  per  cent,  of  iron  in  smelting,  with  a 
small  amount  of  waste,  it  is,  of  course,  far  more 
valuable  than  if  the  amount  of  iron  in  every  ton 
of  material  taken  from  the  ground  is  small. 

In  all  minerals,  the  relation  of  supply  to  price  is 
marked.  The  cost  of  labor  and  of  power  is  ex- 
actly the  same  whether  ore  yields  fifty-five  tons  of 
pure  iron  to  the  hundred,  or  whether  it  yields  only 
thirty  tons,  but  the  price  received  is  little  more  than 
half. 

So  if  the  price  is  low,  it  may  cost  more  to  mine 
and  smelt  the  one  hundred  tons  of  earth  than  will 
be  paid  for  the  thirty  tons  of  iron  that  the  low- 
grade  ore  would  yield.  So  the  lands  that  produce 
only  thirty  tons  to  the  hundred  will  never  be  mined 
till  the  price  of  iron  is  so  high  that  it  is  above 
the  cost  of  producing  —  that  is,  till  it  can  be  worked 
at  a  profit. 


IRON  171 

The  Lake  Superior  iron  found  in  Minnesota  is 
usually  more  than  fifty-five  per  cent,  pure  iron. 
That  is,  if  a  hundred  tons  of  earth  be  mined,  more 
than  fifty -five  tons  of  pure  iron  would  be  obtained 
from  it.  This  is  the  highest  grade  of  ore.  Some  ore 
is  mined  that  yields  only  forty  tons  or  less.  There 
are  vast  quantities,  billions  of  tons,  of  iron  ore  in 
the  United  States,  that  would  yield  less  than  thirty 
tons  of  iron  to  the  hundred.  These  low-grade  ores 
and  the  ones  known  to  lie  so  deep  in  the  earth  that 
the  cost  of  mining  them  is  more  than  the  finished 
products  of  iron,  are  classed  as  "  not  available," 
that  is,  they  can  never  be  profitably  mined  under 
present  conditions.  But  we  must  remember  that 
as  the  higher  grade  ores  are  exhausted  it  will  be- 
come necessary  to  use  the  lower  grades,  and  that 
prices  will  steadily  advance  as  a  result. 

Iron  is  sometimes  found  almost  directly  under 
the  ground,  at  other  times  deep  in  the  earth.  That 
which  is  found  just  below  the  surface  is,  of  course, 
mined  much  more  easily,  more  safely,  more  cheaply, 
and  with  far  less  loss  than  that  which  requires  deep 
mining.  Such  conditions  are  found  in  the  Lake 
Superior  region,  and  there  is  almost  no  loss  at  all, 
the  low-grade  ores  being  piled  up  at  one  side  where 
they  can  be  easily  reached  in  case  of  need. 

On  the  other  hand  some  iron  mines  now  in  oper- 
ation are  as  much  as  two  thousand  feet  in  depth. 


172  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

In  these  mines,  as  in  coal  mines,  pillars  are  left  to 
support  the  rock  above.  A  roof  of  the  iron  ore 
is  often  left  also.  The  low-grade  ore  is  left  in  the 
ground  and  no  effort  is  made  to  preserve  it  for 
future  use.  These  constitute  the  principal  waste 
in  iron  mining. 

The  pure  iron  of  the  ore  is  separated  by  wash- 
ing out  the  clays  and  soft  elements,  but  the  harder 
substances  must  be  smelted  by  means  of  heat.  In 
the  beginning  this  was  done  by  charcoal,  which  is 
still  used  in  Sweden.  The  latest  method  is  to  em- 
ploy electricity  manufactured  by  water-power,  but 
most  of  the  iron  smelting  in  this  country  has  been 
done  by  coal.  Every  ton  of  iron  smelted  requires 
its  portion  of  coal  for  firing.  If  low-grade  fuels  in 
gas-producer  engines,  or  water-power  can  be  used 
it  will  be  a  great  aid  in  conserving  coal. 

If  a  limited  supply  of  rather  low-grade  iron  exists 
near  a  coal  region,  it  can  often  be  mined  profitably, 
when,  if  it  be  far  from  an  abundant  fuel  supply,  it 
must  be  shipped  to  distant  blast  furnaces.  The 
cost  of  shipping  causes  ore  containing  a  small 
percentage  of  iron  to  be  classed  as  "  not  avail- 
able." 

Sometimes  a  large  company  with  many  mines  has 
several  varieties  of  ore  of  different  strength  and 
hardness.  If  these  can  be  mixed  to  produce  a 
medium  grade  by  adding  a  small  amount  of  high- 


IRON  173 

grade  ore  to  a  large  amount  of  lower  grade,  the 
value  of  the  product  will  be  doubled. 

Sometimes,  too,  the  by-products  can  be  made  ex- 
tremely profitable  by  manufacturing  large  amounts 
when  the  expense  of  undertaking  the  work  is  too 
great  to  be  attempted  with  a  small  amount.  So 
if  iron  mines  are  owned  by  a  small  company  much 
ore  may  be  classed  as  "  not  available  "  that  could 
be  used  by  a  large  company.  All  these  things  must 
be  considered  in  estimating  the  iron  resources. 

The  first  smelting  of  iron  ore  in  this  country 
was  done  at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  in  1645,  using 
the  low-grade  bog-ores  and  smelting  with  charcoal 
from  the  surrounding  forest. 

Now  if  we  look  over  an  iron  map  of  the  United 
States  we  shall  find  that  there  are  four  hundred  and 
eighty  blast  furnaces,  but  that  only  nine  of  them 
are  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  most  of  these 
are  in  Missouri.  The  greatest  of  all  the  iron  re- 
gions now  lies  in  upper  Michigan  and  Minnesota. 
This  furnishes  eighty  tons  out  of  every  one  hun- 
dred mined  in  the  United  States,  but  the  smelting 
is  done  along  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  iron  region  itself 
is  far  distant  from  a  cheap  fuel  supply.  Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania,  has  been  the  great  iron  city  of  the 
United  States  on  account  of  its  nearness  to  great 
supplies    of    both    coal    and    iron.     Birmingham, 


174  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

Alabama,  is  the  heart  of  the  gjeat  smelting  region 
of  the  South. 

The  iron  is  divided  into  districts  as  follows: 
(i)  The  Northeastern,  comprising  the  states 
of  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Ohio,  supplies  a  little  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  the 
iron  mined  in  the  United  States. 

(2)  The  Southeastern,  containing  Virginia, 
West  Virginia,  eastern  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  Greorgia,  and  Alabama, 
gives  us  twelve  per  cent,  of  our  iron. 

(3)  The  Lake  Superior  district,  containing  the 
northern  parts  of  Michigan,  Minnesota  and  Wis- 
consin, supplies  more  than  eighty  per  cent. 

(4)  The  Mississippi  Valley  district  contains 
western  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  Iowa,  Missouri, 
Arkansas  and  Texas.  This  region  furnishes  less 
than  half  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  supply. 

(5)  The  Rocky  Mountain  district  contains  Mon- 
tana, Idaho,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Utah,  Nevada, 
New  Mexico,  Arizona,  western  Texas,  Washington, 
Oregon  and  California;  and  all  this  great  region 
now  supplies  but  a  little  more  than  one  per  cent. 

The  official  report,  which  is  as  thorough  as  can 
be  made  but  is  naturally  subject  to  mistakes,  gives 
the  amount  of  available  iron,  that  is,  that  which  can 


IRON  175 

be  mined  under  present  conditions,  as  nearly  five 
billion  tons. 

Let  us  see  how  long  this  may  be  expected  to 
supply  the  demand. 

Before  1810  the  amount  of  iron  ore  produced 
was  so  small  as  to  be  scarcely  worth  considering. 
From  1 8 10  to  1870  a  little  less  than  fifty  million 
tons  were  mined,  from  1870  to  1889  nearly  154,- 
000,000  tons,  and  from  1889  to  1907,  475,000,000 
tons,  or  altogether  nearly  680,000,000  tons.  The 
production  has  been  found  to  double  itself  about 
every  nine  years.  In  1907  alone  it  was  52,000,000 
tons  or  about  one-thirteenth  of  all  that  has  been 
mined. 

In  1880  we  used  200  pounds  of  pig-iron  for 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  country;  in 
1890,  320  pounds;  in  1900,  390  pounds,  and  in  1907, 
696  pounds.  According  to  the  rule  of  increase,  by 
1916  we  shall  be  using  104,000,000  tons  a  year;  by 
1925,  208,000,000,  and  by  1934,  416,000,000  tons, 
and  if  the  same  rate  of  increase  should  continue,  by 
1940  we  should  have  required  for  our  use  in  the 
meantime,  six  billion  tons.  But  we  have  less  than 
five  billion  tons  of  what  is  now  classed  as  available 
ore,  which  means  that  before  that  time  (when  the 
school-boys  of  to-day  are  business  men)  we  should 
have  exhausted  all  our  good  and  cheap  ore,  and  be 


1/6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

obliged  to  depend  only  on  the  low-grade  ores,  the 
cost  of  which  will  be  very  great. 

Unlike  coal,  the  forests,  and  the  soil,  there  is  no 
great  and  entirely  useless  waste  of  iron.  But  the 
uses  of  iron  are  so  many  and  so  varied,  and  the 
supply  of  high-grade  ores  which  can  be  cheaply 
mined  is  so  small  in  proportion  to  the  needs  of  the 
future,  that  we  should  in  all  ways  lessen  the  drain 
on  it  by  substituting  other  cheaper  and  more  plenti- 
ful materials  when  possible. 

The  chief  use  of  iron  is  for  the  carrying  of 
freight.  Here  are  some  figures  given  by  Mr.  Car- 
negie. Moving  one  thousand  tons  of  freight  by 
rail  requires  an  eighty-ton  locomotive  and  twenty- 
five  twenty-ton  steel  cars,  or  five  hundred  and  eighty 
tons  of  iron  and  steel  to  draw  it  over  —  say  an 
average  of  ten  miles  of  double  track  with  switches, 
frogs,  spikes,  etc.,  which  will  weigh  more  than  four 
hundred  tons.  Thus  we  see  that  to  move  a  thou- 
sand tons  of  freight  requires  the  use  of  an  equal 
weight  of  iron.  The  same  freight  may  be  moved 
by  water  by  means  of  from  one  hundred  to  two 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  metal,  so  that  if  freight 
were  sent  by  water  instead  of  by  rail  the  amount 
of  iron  needed  for  this  service  would  be  reduced  at 
least  three- fourths,  the  amount  of  coal  would  be 
reduced  not  less  than  half,  and  at  the  same  time 


IRON  177 

the  coal  used  in  extra  smelting  would  be  saved. 
No  single  step  open  to  us  to-day  would  do  more 
to  check  the  drain  on  both  iron  and  coal  than  the 
use  of  our  rivers  for  carrying  heavy  freight. 

The  next  great  use  of  iron  is  for  buildings  and 
bridges.  The  greatly  increasing  use  of  cement  and 
concrete  is  reducing  this  and  will  reduce  it  still 
further.  Cement  is  made  from  slag,  or  the  refuse 
of  iron  ore  —  the  clays  and  shales  —  and  the  cost 
of  this  valuable  product  is  little  more  than  the 
former  cost  of  piling  it  away.  By  making  the  use- 
less slag  into  cement  the  cost  of  iron  production  is 
lowered  and  at  the  same  time  the  drain  on  the  iron 
is  lessened. 

A  large  use  of  steel  of  the  highest  quality  is  for 
battleships,  cannon,  and  war  supplies.  If  the  great 
nations  of  the  world  would  agree  to  reduce  their 
armament,  one  of  the  great  drains  on  the  world's 
iron,  coal,  and  wood  supply  would  cease,  and  these 
materials  be  put  to  improving  the  world. 

The  worst  feature  of  it  is  that  these  war  supplies 
are  continually  changing.  They  must  be  of  the 
latest  pattern,  or  they  are  of  small  value  for  fight- 
ing purposes.  The  construction  of  battleships  dif- 
fers greatly  year  by  year,  and  the  older  ships  are 
discarded  to  make  place  for  newer  and  larger  ones. 
It  is  said  that  our  newest  battleship  alone  could 


178  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

with  a  few  shots  destroy  all  of  Admiral  Dewey's 
fleet.  The  following  is  from  a  recent  magazine 
article : 

"  It  is  admitted  by  naval  officers  that  the  ships 
of  ten  years  ago  are  of  obsolete  type  and  would  be 
useless  against  the  new  vessels.  It  is  admitted  that 
within  ten  years  or  less  the  new  types  will  in  turn 
become  obsolete,  and  will  be  useless  against  the  type 
of  vessel  certain  to  be  evolved.  That  is,  as  soon  as 
a  vessel  costing  millions  of  dollars  leaves  the  docks, 
she  enters  into  active  competition  for  a  place  on  the 
junk  pile." 

The  greatest  improvement  that  can  be  imagined 
in  the  iron  situation  will  be  in  the  discovery  and 
use  of  alloys  or  mixtures  of  iron  with  other  ma- 
terials. Steel,  the  strongest  of  all  forms  of  iron, 
is  an  alloy  of  iron  and  carbon,  and  for  various 
purposes  these  are  further  mixed  with  nickel  and 
sihcas.  Many  other  alloys  have  been  discovered 
within  the  last  few  years,  and  each  makes  possible 
new  uses  for  iron  requiring  greater  strength.  One 
of  the  best  of  these  is  a  mixture  of  iron  and  silicon, 
called  ferro-silicon.  Silica  is  one  of  the  cheapest 
and  most  abundant  materials  of  all  the  earth's 
products,  so  its  combination  with  iron  will  greatly 
lengthen  the  life  of  the  iron  supply;  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  in  the  future  combinations  of  other  ma- 


IRON  179 

terials  will  yield  better  and  cheaper  metals  than 
any  thus  far  produced. 

The  amount  of  metal  which  can  be  reworked  is 
constantly  increasing.  Most  of  the  iron  factories 
remelt  large  quantities  of  old  iron,  to  be  used  with 
the  new,  and  this  will  lessen  each  year  the  demand 
on  the  ores.  It  is  also  possible  that  new  deposits 
of  iron  ore  will  be  found  and  these  will  greatly 
increase  the  supply.  But  from  the  whole  iron  situ- 
ation we  may  draw  the  following  conclusions : 

First,  the  amount  of  iron  remaining  in  the 
ground  is  very  uncertain.  It  may  be  more,  or 
it  may  be  less,  than  the  present  estimate. 

Second,  if  the  estimates  are  nearly  correct,  and  if 
the  present  rate  of  increase  continues,  all  the  high- 
grade  ores  will  be  exhausted  by  the  time  the  small 
boys  of  to-day  are  the  business  men  of  the  nation. 

Third,  the  best  methods  of  reducing  the  drain 
on  the  supply  are,  (a)  The  use  of  old  iron  as  a 
mixture;  (b)  Carrying  a  part  of  the  freight  by 
water  to  reduce  the  amount  of  iron  required  by  the 
railroads;  (c)  The  larger  use  of  concrete  and  ce- 
ment to  take  the  place  of  steel  in  buildings;  (d) 
Lessening  the  amount  used  for  war;  (e)  The  use  of 
alloys.  This  opens  a  large  and  promising  field  for 
invention,  (f)  More  care  in  preserving  articles 
made  of  iron.     This  is  a  practical  thing  for  every 


i8o  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

person  in  our  country  to  do.  Every  farm  imple- 
ment, or  tool,  that  stands  out  in  the  rain  or  is  left 
without  shelter  during  the  winter,  every  article  care- 
lessly lost  or  broken,  has  its  part  in  making  condi- 
tions worse.  All  that  are  well  cared  for  help  to 
make  the  iron  supply  last  a  little  longer. 

REFERENCES 

Iron  and  Steel  at  Home  and  Abroad.     (Andrew  Carnegie.) 

Conservation  of  Ores  and  Related  Minerals.  (Carnegie.) 
Report  Governor's  Conference. 

Report  National  Conservation  Commission. 

Reports  Geological  Survey. 

Mineral  Resources  of  the  U.  S.  in  1908.  Advance  chapters 
available. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

OTHER   MINERALS 
GOLD 

Iron,  in  its  usefulness  to  man,  stands  in  a  class 
to  itself;  but  there  are  dozens  of  other  minerals 
that  have  their  part  in  the  comfort  and  convenience 
of  our  daily  life.  Most  of  these,  however,  are 
found  in  comparatively  small  quantities  and  have 
few  uses. 

The  minerals  which  are  in  constant  use  by  nearly 
all  people  and  that  are  found  abundantly  in  the 
United  States,  are  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  zinc, 
and  the  elements  used  in  manufacturing  building 
materials. 

Gold  is  valuable  chiefly  because  it  has  been  made 
the  standard  of  money  value  of  the  world.  Africa 
produces  one-third  of  the  world's  supply,  next  come 
the  United  States  and  Australia,  producing  almost 
equal  amounts,  Russia  and  Canada  each  produce  a 
limited  amount,  and  various  other  countries  to- 
gether produce  about  one-sixteenth  of  the  whole. 
(In  the  statements  of  the  gold  supply  of  the  United 
States  the  territory  of  Alaska  is  included.) 

i8i 


l82  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

Gold  is  not  found  alone  but  contained  in  quartz 
rock  or  sand.  The  method  of  taking  gold  from 
the  rock  is  first  by  blasting,  and  afterward  grinding 
the  rock  in  a  stamp  mill,  which  reduces  it  to  powder, 
after  which  the  gold  is  separated  by  refining  pro- 
cesses. The  gold  which  occurs  in  the  sand,  gravel, 
or  clay  soil,  is  washed  out.  When  done  on  a  small 
scale  this  is  called  "  panning."  The  larger  oper- 
ations of  this  kind  are  called  "  placer "  and 
"  dredge "  mining.  There  is  also  a  considerable 
amount  of  gold  obtained  as  a  by-product  from  cop- 
per mining. 

Generally  speaking,  quartz  mines  are  in  the  moun- 
tains and  placer  mines  in  the  river  valleys.  Placer 
mining  by  powerful  water  pressure,  called  hydraulic 
mining,  destroys  the  banks,  and  also  fills  up  the 
river  beds  with  masses  of  rock  and  gravel.  Some 
of  the  large  rivers  of  California  have  been  made 
unfit  for  steamboat  traffic,  and  serious  damage  has 
been  done  to  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco.  For 
this  reason  hydraulic  placer  mining  has  been  stopped 
by  law.  This  has  greatly  lessened  the  gold  pro- 
duction of  California. 

In  1907,  the  United  States  produced  $94,000,000 
worth  of  gold.  Of  this,  Colorado  produced  more 
than  any  other  state.  Next  in  their  order  come 
Alaska,  California  and   Nevada.     Each  produced 


OTHER  MINERALS  183 

from  $15,000,000  to  $20,000,000  worth.  Together 
they  furnished  nearly  four-fifths  of  the  entire  sup- 
ply. The  remaining  one-fifth  comes  from  Utah, 
South  Dakota,  Montana,  Arizona,  Idaho,  and  Ore- 
gon, with  very  small  amounts  from  the  southeastern 
states,  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  New  Mexico, 
Washington,  and  Wyoming,  South  Dakota  has  the 
most  profitable  single  gold  mine  in  the  United  States. 
It  has  produced  nearly  $60,000,000  in  gold,  and 
is  now  turning  out  about  $5,000,000  worth  a  year. 

The  United  States  has  many  unworked  gold' 
mines,  "  gold  reserves  "  they  are  called,  whose  value 
can  not  in  any  way  be  exactly  estimated.  The  value 
of  the  placer  mines  can  be  better  judged  than  that 
of  the  lode  or  quartz  mines.  The  placer  mines  are 
chiefly  in  Alaska  and  California.  These  mines 
may  yield  gold  to  the  amount  of  a  billion  dollars. 
There  are  lesser,  but  important  resources  of  placer 
gold  in  Montana,  Idaho,  and  Oregon. 

The  placer  gold  mined  in  1907  was  valued  at 
$24,000,000,  and  it  is  thought  that  about  this  quan- 
tity can  be  supplied  for  a  long  time. 

The  amount  of  gold  yielded  in  the  reduction  of 
copper  ores  was  about  $5,500,000.  It  is  probable 
that  this  amount  will  be  gradually  increased,  and 
can  be  relied  on  to  last  many  years.  From  the  lead 
ores  a  little  over  $2,000,000  worth  of  gold  was 


i84  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

taken.  This  will  probably  slowly  decrease  for  the 
next  ten  or  twenty  years.  From  gold  and  silver- 
bearing  quartz  mines  $55,000,000  was  taken. 

No  calculation  can  be  made  as  to  the  amount  of 
gold  contained  in  quartz  mines.  New  discoveries 
are  always  probable  and  many  new  mines  are  opened 
up  each  year,  but  their  value  can  only  be  estimated 
as  the  work  in  them  progresses. 

Just  how  long  they  will  last  nobody  knows,  but 
it  would  seem  that  their  decline  is  far  off.  The 
government  report  says,  "  Unless  very  important 
new  discoveries  are  made  it  is  thought  unlikely 
that  the  production  of  gold  in  the  United  States 
will  rise  much  above  $110,000,000;  nor  is  it  likely 
that  it  will  sink  below  $60,000,000  within  a  long 
period  of  years." 

The  amount  of  gold  used  in  the  United  States  is 
about  equal  to  the  production.  Nearly  $80,000,000 
is  coined  into  money,  and  about  half  as  much  is 
used  in  the  arts, —  that  is,  for  jewelry,  tableware, 
in  dentistry,  in  bookbinding,  and  various  chemical 
processes.  The  quantity  used  in  the  arts  has 
doubled  since  1900.  In  1907  the  stock  of  gold 
coin  in  the  United  States,  according  to  the  Director 
of  the  Mint,  was  $1,600,000,000,  which  is  almost 
exactly  one-fifth  of  the  gold  coin  of  the  world. 

The  production  of  gold  is  rapidly  increasing. 
Since   1850  we  have  mined  three  times  as  much 


OTHER  MINERALS  185 

gold  as  in  all  the  previous  time  since  the  discovery 
of  America.  Such  rapid  production  greatly 
shortens  the  life  of  the  gold  supply.  When  the 
gold  fields  of  southern  Africa  were  first  opened 
they  were  said  to  be  inexhaustible;  but  they  have 
been  mined  so  rapidly,  and  the  supply  has  proved 
so  far  short  of  the  first  excited  estimates  that  ex- 
perts say  that  the  entire  region  will  be  almost  ex- 
hausted within  twenty  years.  The  loss  of  gold  in 
mining  and  refining  is  comparatively  small.  In  ex- 
tracting gold  from  the  cheaper  ores  the  percentage 
of  loss  is  large ;  but  as  only  a  small  part  of  the  gold 
is  gained  in  this  way  the  total  loss  is  relatively 
small.  By  other  methods  ninety-five  per  cent,  or 
more  is  saved.  In  many  cases  the  loss  is  too  small 
to  be  considered. 

UnHke  other  minerals  little  gold  is  destroyed  by 
use.  It  is  melted  and  remelted,  all  scraps  are  used, 
even  the  sweepings  from  the  mint  and  from  man- 
ufacturing goldsmiths'  shops  are  saved  and  the 
gold  used.  The  waste  of  the  world's  gold  and  sil- 
ver would  be  much  greater  but  for  the  use  of  paper 
money,  bank  checks,  and  notes.  Their  very  gen- 
eral use  keeps  the  gold  as  a  reserve,  held  in  banks 
and  storage  vaults  much  of  the  time.  If  it  were  in 
constant  use,  the  continual  rubbing  together  of  the 
coins  would  mean  a  no  less  steady,  though  slight, 
wearing  away  of  their  surface.     This  is  very  no- 


1 86  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

ticeable  in  old  silver  coins,  which  are  kept  in  more 
constant  circulation. 

SILVER 

The  conditions  in  regard  to  silver  are  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  other  resources.  The  pro- 
duction of  silver  is  not  increasing,  in  fact,  the  min- 
ing of  silver  alone  is  decreasing  and  the  reason  is 
not  because  the  supply  is  lessening,  but  because  the 
price  is  too  low  to  make  a  larger  working  of  the 
mines  profitable,  and  the  supply  is  kept  down  to  the 
level  of  the  demand.  A  great  number  of  silver 
mines  have  been  closed  for  the  last  few  years.  The 
production  could  be  greatly  increased  at  any  time 
to  meet  an  increased  demand. 

The  highest  production  was  in  1902,  but  there 
have  been  only  slight  changes  since  1895 ;  the  pro- 
duction being  a  little  less  than  60,000,000  ounces, 
or  about  one-third  of  the  world's  supply  —  Mexico 
being  the  only  other  great  producer.  In  many 
countries  with  a  small  supply  the  output  is  growing 
less  each  year  on  account  of  the  low  price,  and  the 
difficulty  of  competing  with  the  United  States. 

The  states  now  producing  the  most  silver  are 
Colorado,  Montana,  and  Utah;  each  of  these  pro- 
duces about  one  ounce  out  of  every  five  ounces 
mined.  Most  of  the  remainder  was  produced  by 
Nevada,  Idaho,  Arizona,  and  California. 


OTHER  MINERALS  187 

Although  nearly  60,000,000  ounces  were  mined 
in  1907  only  one  and  a  half  million  ounces  were 
mined  for  the  sake  of  the  silver  alone.  The  rest 
was  obtained  as  a  by-product  in  the  mining  of  gold, 
lead,  copper  and  zinc,  or,  as  is  often  the  case,  it 
was  distinctively  silver  ore,  but  could  not  be  profit- 
ably mined  unless  some  other  ore  could  be  obtained 
at  the  same  time. 

The  richer  regions  seem  to  have  been  exhausted, 
and  as  the  process  of  extracting  the  ore  is  expen- 
sive the  lower  grade  ores  will  probably  be  held  for 
several  years  till  prices  advance.  A  great  silver 
region  has  recently  been  opened  in  northern  Can- 
ada. This  contains  immense  quantities  of  very  rich 
ore,  and  will  probably  keep  the  price  down  for  many 
years. 

So  the  care  and  conservation  of  silver  is  not  an 
important  issue  for  the  people  of  the  present  gener- 
ation. As  silver  is  now  obtained  largely  as  a  by- 
product, there  is  almost  no  waste. 

The  United  States  sends  considerably  more  than 
half  of  its  silver  to  other  countries,  principally  to 
India  and  China,  which  use  much  silver  coin,  but 
have  little  in  the  way  of  silver  resources.  The 
amount  used  at  home  is  divided  between  coinage 
and  manufacture.  The  quantity  coined  varies 
greatly  from  year  to  year,  eight  million  ounces  be- 
ing about  the  average.     For  manufacturing,  jewelry, 


i88  CHECKING,  THE  WASTE 

tableware,  chemicals,  etc.,  about  twenty  million 
ounces,  of  which  one-fifth  is  remelted  silver,  are 
used.  The  demand  for  silver  in  manufacturing  has 
doubled  since  1898,  and  may  lead  before  many  years 
to  the  reopening  of  the  silver  mines. 

COPPER 

The  conditions  of  copper  mining  are  exactly  op- 
posite from  those  of  silver.  The  Indians  used 
almost  no  metal  except  copper,  and  for  three  hun- 
dred years  white  men  used  the  old  Indian  mines 
and  refined  the  copper  by  Indian  methods.  Better 
methods  of  mining  copper  and  extracting  it  from 
the  ores  have  been  employed  for  the  last  fifty  years, 
but  within  a  dozen  years  the  refining  of  copper  has 
been  revolutionized  by  electric  methods.  An  enor- 
mous amount  has  been  produced,  but  production  has 
been  kept  down  on  account  of  the  high  prices.  It 
is  said  that  if  the  price  could  be  reduced  one-half, 
ten  times  as  much  copper  would  be  used.  Most  of 
the  uses  of  copper  have  arisen  in  the  last  twenty- 
five  years.  Its  greatest  use  is  for  electric  wiring. 
Nothing  can  take  its  place,  and  the  use  is  increasing 
astonishingly. 

Copper  is  used  largely  in  alloys.  Bronze  is  an 
alloy  of  copper  and  tin,  and  its  use  has  greatly  in- 
creased in  castings,  fittings  for  buildings,  tablets, 
and  statues. 


OTHER  MINERALS  189 

A  much  more  useful  alloy  is  brass,  made  from 
copper  and  zinc.  Brass  is  very  extensively  used 
for  parts  of  machinery,  engines,  automobiles,  and 
also  for  fittings  for  buildings.  Sheet  copper  is  used 
for  sheathing  for  ships,  for  boilers,  and  for  various 
chemical  processes  carried  on  by  electricity  or  by 
acids.  Very  many  of  these  processes  have  been 
discovered  within  ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  have 
largely  increased  the  uses  for  copper.  One  of  the 
older  uses  of  copper  which  is  less  common  now  was 
for  cooking  utensils.  Copper  is  used  by  the  gov- 
ernment for  coining  one-cent  pieces. 

No  single  country  compares  at  present  with  the 
United  States  in  the  production  of  copper,  but  if 
reports  be  correct  there  is  enough  copper  in  central 
Africa  to  supply  the  world  for  years  to  come.  Next 
to  the  United  States,  Spain  mines  the  largest  amount 
at  present,  and  Japan  ranks  next. 

For  many  years  the  rate  of  increase  was  enor- 
mous. In  1845,  224,000  pounds  were  mined;  in 
1888,  226,000,000  pounds.  Eight  years  later,  in 
1896,  it  had  doubled;  after  another  ten  years,  in 
1906,  it  had  doubled  that  quantity,  and  reached 
918,000,000  pounds.  In  1890  we  were  using  three 
pounds  of  copper  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in 
the  country.     And  in  1907,  six  and  one-half  pounds. 

Michigan,  Montana,  and  Arizona  produce  the 
bulk  of  the  copper.     Utah,   California,   Colorado, 


I90  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

New  Mexico,  Wyoming,  and  Nevada  each  produce 
copper  in  amounts  ranging  from  the  66,000,000 
pounds  mined  in  Utah  to  the  2,000,000  pounds 
mined  in  Nevada.  It  is  probable  that  the  use  will 
not  increase  so  rapidly  in  the  near  future.  Much 
old  copper  will  be  remelted. 

There  are  large  areas  of  copper  lands  which  are 
now  classed  as  "  available  "  with  copper  at  about 
its  present  price  of  thirteen  cents  a  pound.  If  the 
world  production  should  grow  so  great  as  to  cause 
a  decided  drop  in  the  price,  much  that  is  now  con- 
sidered available  could  not  be  mined  at  a  profit,  and 
the  copper  supply  from  this  country  would  be  greatly 
reduced.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  copper  should  rise 
to  fifteen  or  twenty  cents  or  higher,  the  amount 
of  available  copper  land  would  be  vastly  increased. 
The  report  on  the  Conservation  of  Mineral  Re- 
sources says  in  effect :  "  The  copper  resources  of 
the  United  States  are  believed  to  be  large  enough  to 
allow  for  a  number  of  years  for  a  demand  increas- 
ing at  the  rate  of  30,000,000  pounds  a  year.  Should 
this  demand  continue  for  a  long  period  the  scarcity 
would  be  felt  and  result  in  a  rising  price,  which 
would  open  up  a  market  for  these  low-grade  ores 
and  also  cause  the  use  of  other  metals,  like  alum- 
inum, to  take  the  place  of  copper  whenever  possible." 

There  is  no  great  waste  in  the  mining  of  copper, 
but  in  the  extraction  of  copper  from  the  ore  the 


OTHER  MINERALS  191 

waste  is  often  as  much  as  thirty  per  cent.,  and  it  is 
not  easy  to  avoid  this  on  account  of  the  chemical 
changes  that  take  place. 

LEAD 

The  United  States  produces  about  one-third  of 
the  lead  in  the  world.  The  remainder  comes  from 
Spain,  where  the  production  remains  about  the 
same  from  year  to  year;  from  Germany,  where  in 
spite  of  higher  prices  production  is  growing  less; 
and  from  Australia  and  Mexico,  in  both  of  which 
the  supply  is  rapidly  decreasing. 

These  facts  show  that  the  lead  resources  of  the 
United  States  will  be  drawn  on  heavily  in  the  future. 
The  production  of  the  United  States  increased  from 
about  70,000  tons  in  1880  to  365,000  tons  seven- 
teen years  later,  and  if  continued  the  yearly  pro- 
duction by  1920  will  amount  to  580,000  tons,  or 
more  than  a  billion  pounds. 

The  principal  lead-producing  states  are  Missouri, 
Idaho,  Utah,  and  Colorado.  In  Missouri  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  present  rate  of  increase  could  be  kept 
up  for  at  least  fifty  years.  The  other  states  could 
keep  up  the  present  production  for  many  years  but 
could  not  greatly  increase  it  without  exhausting  the 
supply. 

As  with  most  mineral  resources  in  the  United 
States,  it  is  only  the  richest  ores  that  are  now  drawn 


192  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

upon  (except  where  lead  is  a  by-product  extracted 
with  some  other  ore).  If  prices  would  advance,  so 
as  to  make  the  low-grade  ores  profitable,  the 
amount  of  our  resources  would  be  greatly  increased. 

There  is  little  waste  in  the  mining  or  smelt- 
ing of  lead  ores,  and  the  slag,  the  waste,  is  always 
ready  to  be  used  again.  In  the  refining  and  con- 
centrating of  lead  the  loss  often  amounts  to  as  much 
as  fifteen  per  cent,  or  twenty  per  cent.  The  best 
way  to  prevent  final  loss  is  to  store  all  refuse  until 
such  time  as  the  reworking  becomes  profitable. 
Improvement  in  methods  has  been  great  in  the  last 
fifteen  years  but  more  economical  methods  every- 
where will  be  one  of  the  necessities  of  the  future. 
We  can  see  that  the  lead  resources  of  the  United 
States  are  not  large  and  that  when  our  own  supply 
is  exhausted  we  can  not  turn  to  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

The  waste  in  mining  is  not  large,  and  most  of  it 
can  not  be  avoided  at  present  prices;  so  that  for 
the  conservation,  which  we  see  is  so  important,  we 
must  turn  to  the  uses  of  lead.  The  most  necessary 
of  these  is  for  lead  pipes  in  plumbing.  Another  use 
is  for  war  supplies,  which  not  only  makes  heavy 
drains  on  our  stores  of  coal  and  iron,  but  also  on 
lead,  which  is  much  less  plentiful. 

One  ton  out  of  every  three  produced  in  the  United 
States  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  white  lead  and 


OTHER  MINERALS  193 

consumed  as  paint.  This,  of  course,  is  entirely 
lost,  and  it  seems  that  some  other  material  might  be 
used,  instead  of  so  valuable  a  mineral,  especially 
when  the  resource  is  not  abundant.  White  lead  is 
used  more  than  any  other  substance  for  paint,  al- 
though zinc  white  has  come  into  considerable  use  in 
the  last  few  years.  No  other  nation  uses  lead 
paint  to  such  an  extent  as  does  the  United  States, 
partly  because  no  other  nation  could  afford  so  gen- 
eral a  use  of  such  an  expensive  material,  and  partly 
because  so  many  wooden  buildings  are  erected.  By 
using  brick,  stone,  or  cement,  of  which  we  have 
practically  an  unending  supply,  to  take  the  place  of 
wood,  our  store  of  which  is  rapidly  disappearing, 
we  could  avoid  much  of  the  drain  on  our  mineral 
resources  which  are  used  for  paint. 

As  production  and  price  advance  a  greater  quan- 
tity of  lead  is  remelted.  About  25,000  tons  are 
returned  to  use  each  year. 

ZINC 

Zinc  is  a  whitish  metal.  It  is  used  in  gal- 
vanizing iron  to  prevent  its  rusting.  It  is  used  also 
in  the  manufacture  of  white  paint,  which  consumes 
about  one  ton  out  of  every  six  tons  mined.  This, 
of  course,  is  permanently  lost,  but  the  price  and  its 
value  as  a  resource  is  much  lower  than  lead.  This 
takes  more  than  half  of  the  entire  product.     The 


194  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

remainder  of  the  output  is  about  equally  divided 
between  brass  and  sheet  zinc.  All  these  uses  are 
extremely  necessary  and  it  is  believed  that  the  pro- 
duction of  zinc  will  rapidly  increase  for  many  years. 

The  United  States  is  the  largest  producer,  Ger- 
many ranks  second.  Large  amounts  are  mined  in 
Australia,  and  very  large  deposits,  entirely  unde- 
veloped, are  said  to  exist  in  Africa.  In  1880,  the 
United  States  produced  23,000  tons  of  zinc;  in  1907, 
280,000  tons.  This  indicates  the  rapid  rate  at  which 
we  are  increasing  our  use  of  zinc. 

If  the  same  rate  should  continue,  in  1920  we 
should  be  using  475,000  tons,  or  almost  a  billion 
pounds,  and  if  zinc  oxide  should  take  the  place  of 
white  lead  in  painting  to  the  extent  that  now  seems 
probable,  the  quantity  would  be  still  further  in- 
creased. 

Missouri  is  by  far  the  heaviest  producer  of  zinc, 
having  a  little  more  than  half  of  the  output.  New 
Jersey  ranks  next,  then  Colorado,  Wisconsin  and 
Kansas.  Some  of  the  other  western  states  each  pro- 
duce small  amounts.  Most  of  the  pure  zinc  ore  is 
mined  at  a  depth  of  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  occurs  in  sheets,  but 
a  large  part  of  the  ore  is  a  by-product  obtained  from 
the  reduction  of  other  ores.  In  New  Jersey  the 
zinc  alone  is  found  in  a  single  region,  where  it  was 
estimated  a  few  years  ago  that  there  were  eight 


OTHER  MINERALS  195 

million  tons,  of  which  two  and  a  half  million  tons 
have  been  mined  since  1904.  The  zinc  in  Missouri, 
Wisconsin  and  Kansas  is  found  alone  or  underly- 
ing lead  deposits,  while  that  of  the  western  states  is 
almost  always  found  in  limestone,  and  is  mixed  with 
silver,  copper,  lead,  and,  more  rarely,  gold.  In 
these  states  there  has  been  little  attempt  to  discover 
zinc;  in  fact,  ores  containing  zinc  have  been  rather 
shunned  because  of  the  difficulty  in  extracting  them. 

It  is  thought  that  our  resources  of  zinc,  especially 
in  the  West,  have  just  begun  to  be  developed,  and 
that  the  supply,  even  at  the  present  rate  of  increase 
and  at  present  prices,  will  last  many  years.  How- 
ever, with  increasing  use  for  the  product,  we  can 
not  be  sure  of  supplies  for  more  than  a  generation ; 
and  in  view  of  the  importance  of  zinc  it  becomes 
necessary  to  inquire  into  its  wastes. 

In  no  mineral  is  the  waste  more  startling  than  in 
zinc.  In  Missouri  it  is  necessary  to  leave  support- 
ing pillars  as  in  coal  mining.  This  can  not  be  rem- 
edied, as  the  use  of  timbers  is  too  expensive,  but 
it  causes  a  heavy  loss.  In  the  West,  owing  to  the 
expensive  treatment  and  shipment,  much  of  the 
low-grade  ore  is  left  in  the  ground.  In  refining 
the  loss  is  enormous,  often  as  much  as  forty  per 
cent.  In  order  to  produce  zinc  at  a  low  cost  there 
must  be  a  heavy  loss  of  metal.  Better  plants  and 
equipment  for  refining,  and  the  saving  of  all  refuse 


196  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

for  later  use  will  be  necessary  if  we  are  to  conserve 
the  zinc  supply  for  future  generations. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

The  supplies  of  many  of  the  materials  used  in 
buildings  and  bridges,  such  as  stone,  gravel,  clay, 
cement  and  lime  are  so  great  that  they  appear  inex- 
haustible, and  need  of  care  in  their  use  is  not  so 
much  to  be  considered  as  is  their  development  to 
take  the  place  of  other  resources. 

In  the  past  they  have  not  been  used  freely  because 
wooden  buildings  have  been  so  much  cheaper;  but 
cement,  concrete  and  brick  are  now  manufactured 
much  more  cheaply,  on  account  of  improved  meth- 
ods, while  the  price  of  lumber  has  been  increasing 
rapidly.  Within  the  last  ten  years,  the  value  of 
cement  manufactures  has  increased  nearly  six  times. 
In  1900  we  used  seventy  pounds  of  cement  for  each 
person;  in  1907,  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
pounds.  The  value  of  brick  and  other  products 
made  from  clay  has  doubled  in  the  same  period  and 
is  now  $160,000,000,  while  the  value  of  building- 
stone  quarries  is  three  times  as  great  as  it  was  ten 
years  ago.  There  are  many  reasons  why  these  ma- 
terials should  take  the  place  of  wood;  as  they  are 
stronger,  more  durable,  do  not  require  paint,  and  are 
so  much  less  liable  to  loss  by  fire. 

The  waste  of  minerals  used  in  building  is  due  to 


OTHER  MINERALS  197 

improper  and  reckless  methods  of  taking  them  from 
the  ground  and  preparing  them  for  market  and  in 
careless  methods  in  manufacturing. 

Of  such  minerals  as  quartz,  grindstone,  mill- 
stone, emery  stone,  mineral  paints,  talc  and  salt, 
there  seems  to  be  enough  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
future  as  well  as  the  present.  Such  supplies  as 
sulphur,  asphalt,  magnesia,  borax,  and  asbestos,  as 
well  as  coal  and  iron,  are  not  very  plentiful.  If 
used  carelessly,  they  will  be  exhausted  in  a  few  years ; 
if  wisely,  they  may  be  expected  to  last  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  present  century. 

Our  supplies  of  quicksilver,  antimony,  graphite, 
mica,  tin,  nickel,  platinum,  and  many  minerals  less 
well  known,  as  well  as  our  petroleum,  natural  gas, 
copper,  gold,  silver,  lead,  zinc,  and  phosphate  rock 
will  be  almost  exhausted  well  within  the  present  cen- 
tury unless  large  new  deposits  are  discovered. 

REFERENCES 

Report  of  National  Conservation  Commission. 
The   Conservation  of  Mineral   Resources.    U.   S.   Govern- 
ment Reports. 
Report  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 
Production  of  Gold  in  1908.    U.  S.  Government  Reports. 
Production  of  Silver  in  1908. 
Production  of  Lead  in  1908. 
Production  of  Zinc  in  1908. 
Production  of  Structural  Materials. 
About  twenty  pamphlets  on  other  minerals. 


CHAPTER  IX 

ANIMAL  FOODS 
GRAZING 

Food  is  of  two  classes:  vegetable,  which  comes 
directly  from  the  earth,  and  animal,  which  has  fed 
on  vegetable  life.  This  is,  of  course,  a  more  con- 
centrated form  of  food,  and  much  less  of  it  is  needed 
to  sustain  life. 

For  the  plentiful  supply  of  vegetable  food  we 
must  depend  upon  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  as  we 
have  seen.  Our  animal  food  can  not  be  classed 
among  our  natural  resources,  but  as  a  product  of 
them,  and  requires  the  same  care  and  wise  use. 

In  the  early  history  of  our  country  natural  animal 
food  was  abundant.  Fishes  swarmed  in  the  sea, 
lakes,  and  streams.  Wild  turkeys  and  other  game 
birds,  deer,  and  bison  formed  a  large  part  of  the 
food  of  our  forefathers.  But  these  have  been  grad- 
ually disappearing.  We  have  caught  and  destroyed 
so  many  fish  that  we  have  only  a  fraction  of  our 
former  number.  The  game  birds  have  disappeared 
either  because  they  have  been  killed  in  great  num- 

198 


ANIMAL  FOODS  199 

bers  or  because  their  nesting-places  have  been  de- 
stroyed. Of  the  big  game  nothing  is  now  left  ex- 
cept in  a  few  remote  regions,  and  it  is  growing  less 
plentiful  each  year. 

Although  large  quantities  of  fish  and  game  are 
marketed  every  year  at  certain  seasons,  they  form 
a  small  fraction  of  the  animal  food  required  in  the 
country,  and  we  must  now  depend  for  most  of  our 
animal  food,  not  on  that  which  was  at  first  given  us 
for  a  natural  resource  but  on  that  raised  by  man. 

The  poultry  —  the  chickens,  ducks,  geese  and  tur- 
keys; the  cattle,  beef  and  dairy,  the  hogs  and  the 
sheep  that  are  raised  in  such  vast  numbers  have 
taken  the  place  of  wild  game.  The  cultivated  va- 
rieties have  higher  food  value,  and  are  far  more 
satisfactory,  since  they  are  ready  for  use  at  any 
time. 

The  conservation  of  our  animal  food  resources 
presents  a  different  problem  from  any  other.  It  is 
true  that  we  have  wasted  and  exhausted  our  natural 
food  supplies,  but  we  must  remember  that  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  their  preservation  was  neither  possible 
nor  desirable.  They  have  been  driven  out  by  ad- 
vancing civilization. 

Wild  birds  and  animals  leave  as  the  forests  are 
cut  out,  destroying  their  natur-^l  homes.  Many  of 
them  can  not  be  kept  in  captivity,  so  this  supply 
never  could  have  been  regulated.     It  was  necessary 


200  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

to  destroy  some  of  them  to  insure  man's  safety,  and 
others  were  needed  for  his  use.  But  we  can  take 
their  places  with  other  animals  which  are  better 
fitted  for  our  food,  and  it  is  the  task  of  keeping  up 
a  sufficient  supply  of  these  on  the  most  suitable  land 
and  under  conditions  that  will  yield  the  best  re- 
sults, that  constitutes  the  problem  of  the  conserva- 
tion of  our  animal  food  resources. 

The  raising  of  poultry  and  live  stock  on  a  large 
scale  is  a  separate  occupation,  usually  followed  in  a 
scientific  manner  and  it  is  not  of  that  industry  that 
we  need  to  speak,  but  rather  of  the  benefit  to  every 
farmer  and  to  the  dwellers  in  small  communities, 
of  raising  at  least  a  part  of  the  animal  food  used  by 
the  family. 

Every  farm  has  some  bits  of  unoccupied  land  that 
can  be  fenced  off  for  poultry.  The  gleanings  from 
the  fields  will  supply  their  food,  and  they  will  fur- 
nish meat  and  eggs  for  the  family  throughout  the 
year,  with  enough  left  to  sell  to  provide  other  com- 
forts. 

Live  stock,  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs,  as  well  as  goats, 
horses  and  mules,  are  profitable  to  every  farmer. 
Many  farms  have  woodland ;  land  that  overflows  at 
some  seasons,  and  so  is  unfit  for  raising  crops;  or 
some  rocky  unproductive  land  where  stock  can  be 
raised  more  profitably  than  anything  else,  and  if 
every  farmer  would  use  all  the  land  not  suitable  for 


ANIMAL  FOODS  201 

farm  crops  for  pasture  land  the  problem  of  an  abun- 
dant meat  supply,  of  dairy  products  and  of  fer- 
tilizers to  enrich  the  soil  would  be  largely  solved. 
Some  farming  experts  advocate  letting  each  field 
in  turn  be  used  for  pasture  every  five  years,  because 
the  stock  raised  on  it  is  equal  in  value  to  any  other 
farm  crop,  and  because  the  rest  and  fertilization  al- 
most double  the  value  of  the  succeeding  year's  crop. 

In  the  West  and  Southwest  there  are  large  tracts 
of  public  land  untilled.  Much  of  the  land  can  never 
be  used  for  agricultural  purposes,  because  it  is  arid 
or  mountainous. 

This  land  is  well  adapted  to  grazing  and  the  gov- 
ernment has  allowed  free  use  of  it  to  stockmen  as 
pasture  lands. 

These  public  pasture  lands  are  called  "  ranges." 
In  the  early  years  when  this  part  of  the  country  be- 
longed to  Mexico,  the  ranges  were  traversed  by 
Indians  and  Mexicans  who  tended  the  herds  of  wild 
cattle  and  horses,  raised  mostly  for  their  hides. 
But  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the  business  has 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  Americans  who  have 
introduced  better  breeds  of  higher  value.  In  Cal- 
ifornia, Arizona,  and  New  Mexico  there  are  now 
on  the  open  ranges  eight  million  sheep,  nearly  three 
million  cattle  and  nearly  a  million  horses,  worth 
much  more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars.  Wy- 
oming and  Utah  have  great  sheep  ranges  and  do 


202  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

much  to  keep  up  the  wool  supply.  On  Texas,  with 
its  great  cattle  ranges,  we  depend  for  a  large  part  of 
our  beef  and  leather.  In  all  these  states  where  stock 
is  fed  on  public  land,  there  are  many  questions  as 
to  ownership  of  animals,  rights  of  rival  rangers,  and 
other  points  to  settle. 

In  some  of  these  states  the  government  has 
set  aside  national  forest  reserves.  Within  these  is 
much  good  grazing  land.  In  order  that  the  gov- 
ernment may  have  some  revenue  from  the  land,  a 
regular  price  has  been  set  on  these  forest  lands. 
The  charge  is  forty  cents  a  year  each  for 
horses,  thirty-five  cents  a  year  for  cattle,  and 
twelve  cents  for  sheep.  The  land  is  properly  di- 
vided, so  that  each  kind  of  stock  has  suitable  past- 
ure. Each  person  who  pays  this  tax  is  given  a 
certain  range  and  no  one  else  is  allowed  to  use  it. 
There  is  sufficient  pasture  for  each  so  that  it  need 
not  be  too  closely  cropped.  A  man  may  lease  the 
same  range  year  after  year,  may  put  down  wells  to 
supply  his  stock,  live  on  it,  and  do  many  things  to 
improve  it. 

The  forest  rangers  who  patrol  the  forest  to  watch 
for  fires  or  for  timber  thieves  also  protect  these 
stockmen  in  their  rights  and  prevent  trouble  about 
grazing  privileges. 

Outside  the  forest  reserves  the  grazing  is  free, 
but  the  advantages  offered  by  this  system  are  so 


ANIMAL  FOODS  203 

great  that  nearly  all  rangers  now  wish  to  use  the 
forest  reserves. 

As  each  ranger  has  his  land  assigned  to  him  and 
no  one  else  can  use  it,  the  grass  is  not  overcropped 
as  it  often  is  in  regions  outside  the  forests.  If 
pasture  is  good,  so  many  herds  are  pastured  there 
that  soon  the  grass  is  all  trampled  down  and  eaten 
off.  Large  areas  are  so  badly  injured  that  it  will  not 
naturally  resod  itself. 

Cattle  men  are  asking  that  the  same  rules  that 
apply  to  the  national  forests  be  applied  to  other  pub- 
lic lands,  so  that  the  pasturage  may  be  improved  and 
each  man  may  have  protection  in  his  rights. 

If  all  grazing  lands  could  be  thus  leased,  it  would 
give  the  business  a  far  more  permanent  character, 
better  breeds  of  stock  would  be  raised,  and  indi- 
vidual owners  would  direct  their  efforts  to  improv- 
ing both  stock  and  pasture,  after  the  manner  of 
stock  raisers  on  private  lands. 

So  large  a  part  of  our  animal  food,  our  wool,  our 
leather  and  many  smaller  needs  depend  on  this  in- 
dustry, that  every  effort  should  be  made  to  en- 
courage it,  and  to  provide  the  wisest  laws  and  best 
methods  both  for  conserving  and  developing  it. 

In  conclusion  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  is  making  a  study  of 
food  birds  and  animals  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  and  trying  to  domesticate  them,  to  add  to  the 


204  CHECKING  THE  .WASTE 

variety  of  our  food  supply.  The  quail,  the  golden 
pheasant  and  some  species  of  grouse  among  birds, 
and  two  or  three  species  of  deer,  including  the  rein- 
deer, appear  to  be  adapted  to  domestic  life  in  this 
country,  and  may,  before  many  years,  become  a  part 
of  the  animal  industry  of  the  United  States. 

FISHERIES 

One  who  has  never  seen  the  big  catches  of  fish 
brought  in  by  a  mackerel  fleet  or  visited  a  wholesale 
fish  market  can  have  little  idea  of  the  importance  of 
that  industry,  nor  of  the  immense  amount  of  food 
that  is  taken  from  the  waters  of  the  United  States 
every  year. 

The  word  fish  is  made  to  include  not  only  fish 
proper,  but  oysters,  clams,  scallops,  lobsters,  crabs, 
shrimps,  and  turtles.  Fish  is  liked  by  most  per- 
sons, is  more  easily  digested  than  meat  and  is  nour- 
ishing. As  a  food  resource,  it  is  different  in  many 
respects  from  any  other.  It  does  not  exhaust  the 
soil,  nor  take  from  the  earth  anything  of  value,  the 
food  of  fishes  consisting  of  water  plants  and  ani- 
mals that  are  not  used  by  man  in  any  other  way. 
Fish  also  purify  the  water  in  which  they  live,  and  so 
cause  a  great,  though  indirect,  benefit. 

It  is  so  plainly  the  wise  thing,  then,  to  keep  our 
rivers  stocked  with  fish  and  to  use  them  for  food 
only,  that  it  seems  that  this  valuable  resource  has 


ANIMAL  FOODS  205 

been  more  seriously  and  unnecessarily  wasted  than 
any  other. 

Fish  are  wasted  on  inland  streams  in  the  follow- 
ing ways:  (i)  By  dynamiting.  If  a  charge  of 
dynamite  be  exploded  on  the  bed  of  the  river,  great 
numbers  of  fish,  killed  by  the  shock,  rise  to  the 
top  of  the  water  and  can  be  taken.  This  practice 
was  quite  common  at  one  time,  but  is  now  pro- 
hibited by  law  in  several  states. 

(2)  By  seining.  A  seine  or  net  is  placed  en- 
tirely across  the  stream,  and  all  the  fish  which  come 
down  the  stream  are  caught.  In  several  states  sein- 
ing is  not  allowed  at  all.  In  others  it  is  allowed 
only  at  certain  seasons.  And  in  still  others  the 
meshes  of  the  seine  must  be  large  enough  to  allow 
all  fish  below  a  certain  size  to  slip  through. 

(3)  By  catching  with  a  hook,  (angling)  more 
fish  than  can  be  used  or  catching  small  fish  and 
then  throwing  them  away.  This  is  a  very  com- 
mon custom  among  sportsmen,  but  should  be  pro- 
hibited by  law.  From  a  certain  small  inland  lake, 
it  is  said  that  during  the  entire  season  an  average 
of  five  thousand  fish  a  day  is  taken.  These  are 
almost  all  caught  by  summer  residents,  and  it  is 
unlikely  that  a  large  per  cent,  of  them  are  eaten. 
In  a  few  years  the  lake  will  be  exhausted,  and  will 
cease  to  furnish  fish  for  the  people  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  there  will,  of  course,  be  no  more  fishing 


2o6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

for  the  sportsmen.  Equal  waste  is  going  on  all 
through  the  summer  at  every  resort  where  good 
fishing  is  to  be  had.  Some  states  have  laws  regu- 
lating the  size  of  the  fish  that  may  be  caught  and 
the  number  that  one  person  may  take  in  one  day, 
and  all  states  should  have  such  laws. 

(4)  The  worst  waste  of  our  fish  is  caused  by 
turning  large  quantities  of  sewage  or  refuse  from 
factories  into  streams.  All  the  fish  for  miles  up 
and  down  a  river  are  often  destroyed  in  this  way. 
As  we  have  seen,  this  is  only  one  of  the  bad  results 
of  allowing  such  refuse  to  drain  into  streams;  every 
state  should  have  strict  laws  prohibiting  it. 

From  the  waters  of  the  New  England  states  more 
than  five  hundred  and  twenty-eight  millions  of  fish 
are  taken  each  year.  Here  are  the  great  cod,  mack- 
erel, and  herring  fisheries.  From  the  Middle  At- 
lantic states,  the  great  region  for  oysters,  lobsters 
and  other  sea  food,  come  eight  hundred  and  twenty 
million  more;  one  hundred  and  six  million  come 
from  the  South  Atlantic  states;  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  million,  including  the  much  sought  tarpon 
and  red  snappers,  come  from  the  Gulf  states;  two 
hundred  and  seventeen  million  are  caught  in  the 
Pacific  states,  including  the  great  salmon  catches; 
ninety-six  millions  are  taken  from  the  Mississippi 
River  and  its  tributaries,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  millions,  largely  salmon,   from   Alaska.     The 


ANIMAL  FOODS  207 

Great  Lakes,  with  their  pickerel,  and  other  fine 
fresh-water  fish  furnish  one  hundred  and  thirteen 
millions  and  the  small  inland  waters  at  least  five 
millions  more. 

When  they  are  taken  from  the  waters  the  2,169,- 
000,000  pounds  of  fish  caught  in  the  United  States 
are  worth  $58,000,000,  but  by  canning,  salting,  and 
other  processes  of  preserving,  the  value  is  greatly 
increased. 

Fortunately,  there  is  a  method  of  conserving  our 
supply  of  fish  and  not  only  preventing  it  from  grow- 
ing less,  but  of  greatly  increasing  the  number  and 
improving  the  quality.  The  United  States  govern- 
ment has  a  thoroughly  well  organized  fish  commis- 
sion, and  many  states  and  counties  and  even  private 
clubs  carry  on  the  same  work,  which  is  a  general 
supervision  of  the  fish  supply. 

The  government  maintains  stations  which  are 
regularly  engaged  in  hatching  fish,  keeping  them 
until  the  greatest  danger  of  their  being  destroyed 
is  past,  and  then  placing  them  in  various  streams 
all  over  the  country.  These  fish  are  always  of  good 
food  varieties,  and  are  carefully  selected  to  insure 
the  kind  best  suited  to  the  stream,  as  to  whether  it 
is  warm  or  cold,  deep  or  shallow,  clear  or  muddy, 
fresh  or  salt,  slow  and  placid,  or  swift  and  turbulent, 
for  each  kind  of  stream  has  certain  varieties  of  fish 
that  are  especially  adapted  to  it, 


2o8  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

With  all  these  things  taken  into  account,  stocking 
only  with  the  best  food  varieties,  if  a  state  has  laws 
which  require  that  a  stream  be  kept  free  from  sew- 
age and  refuse,  that  no  tiny  fish  be  taken  from  the 
water,  and  that  only  a  stated  number  can  be  taken  in 
a  day  by  a  single  person,  hundreds  of  small  streams, 
ponds  and  reservoirs  all  over  the  country  may  be 
made  to  yield  food  supplies  for  the  entire  commu- 
nity near  by. 

Governor  Deneen,  of  Illinois,  in  urging  that 
streams  be  improved  for  navigation,  says,  "  No  es- 
timate of  the  benefits  to  flow  from  stream  develop- 
ment would  be  complete  without  allusion  to  the  fish- 
eries which  have  been  established  on  the  Illinois 
River,  largely  by  restocking  with  fish  from  hatch- 
eries. The  fisheries  located  on  that  stream  are  sec- 
ond in  value  only  to  those  of  the  Columbia  River. 

"  Our  experience  thus  far  indicates  that  the  food 
resources  of  the  water  may  be  brought  up  in  value  to 
those  of  the  land.  The  Illinois  valley  contains  80,000 
acres  of  water  area  and  yields  a  fish  product  worth 
ten  dollars  an  acre  each  year,  very  nearly  all  profit. 
The  average  value  of  the  land  product  near  by  is  a 
little  less  than  twelve  dollars  an  acre,  and  the  labor, 
cost  of  seeding,  and  exhaustion  of  fertilization  of 
the  land  must  all  be  counted  before  there  can  be  a 
profit." 

In  1908  the  United  States  Fish  Commission  dis- 


ANIMAL  FOODS  209 

tributed  nearly  two  and  a  half  billion  of  young  fish 
and  half  a  million  fish  eggs.  These  were  such  ex- 
cellent varieties  as  salmon,  shad,  trout,  bass,  white 
fish,  perch,  cod,  flat  fish  and  lobsters. 

The  Bureau  of  Fisheries  has  its  fish-hatching 
stations,  its  boats  for  catching  fish  in  nets  and  its 
tank  cars  for  carrying  the  young  fish  and  eggs  to 
the  streams  that  are  to  be  stocked. 

Some  of  the  most  important  work  is  interest- 
ingly described  in  a  history  of  the  Bureau  of  Fish- 
eries issued  in  1908.  Among  other  things  it  tells 
of  the  lobster  industry  in  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pa- 
cific Oceans.  Lobsters  are  not  found  naturally  in 
the  Pacific,  but  shipments  of  lobsters  have  been 
made  from  the  Atlantic  coast.  At  the  last  ship- 
ment, after  carrying  them  across  the  continent 
packed  in  seaweed,  more  than  a  thousand  lobsters 
were  safely  placed  on  the  bed  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast  the  lobsters  were  rapidly 
disappearing  when  the  work  of  artificial  "  plant- 
ing "  of  young  lobsters  and  eggs  began.  The  re- 
sults can  be  seen  now,  for  more  lobsters  are  being 
caught  each  year,  and  the  price  to  users  is  growing 
less  as  the  supply  becomes  more  plentiful. 

The  shad  and  the  salmon  are  considered  the  finest 
of  all  fish  for  eating.  Both  are  salt-water  fish  and 
both  have  the  habit  of  going  some  distance  up  fresh- 
water rivers  to  lay  their  eggs.     No  eggs  are  ever 


2IO  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

laid  in  salt  water.  The  mother  fish  goes  up  beyond 
where  the  tide  comes  in,  so  that  the  baby  fish  may 
have  fresh  water,  which  is  necessary  for  them.  Sal- 
mon and  shad  are  never  caught  in  the  sea,  but  in  the 
rivers,  where  they  go  in  large  numbers  to  lay  their 
eggs  in  the  spring.  This,  of  course,  means  the 
destruction  of  both  fish  and  eggs, —  the  present  and 
future  supply. 

Shad  eggs,  or  roe  are  sold  in  large  quantities. 
The  Bureau  of  Fisheries  has  planted  three  thou- 
sand millions  of  young  shad  in  streams  along  the 
coast,  and  the  eggs  from  which  these  fish  were 
hatched  were  all  taken  from  fish  that  had  been 
caught  for  market,  and  would  have  been  totally  lost 
if  the  Bureau  had  not  collected  them  from  the  fish- 
ermen. 

Shad  have  been  planted  in  the  Sacramento  and 
Columbia  Rivers  flowing  into  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
From  these  two  sources  they  have  spread  until  now 
they  are  found  as  far  south  as  Los  Angeles,  and  as 
far  north  as  Alaska,  a  coast  line  of  4,000  miles,  and 
it  is  said  that  more  shad  could  now  be  caught  in 
the  Sacramento  and  Columbia  Rivers  than  in  any 
other  water  courses. 

In  addition  to  supplying  the  streams  with  young 
fish,  it  is  necessary  to  leave  a  part  of  each  river  clear 
so  that  some  of  the  fish  may  find  their  way  up- 
stream to   deposit   their  eggs.     The   salmon  have 


ANIMAL  FOODS  211 

been  almost  driven  out  from  the  waters  of  New 
England,  except  in  the  Penobscot  River,  where  they 
have  been  kept  by  the  watchfulness  of  the  Fisher- 
ies Bureau.  It  is  believed  that  the  entire  salmon 
industry  in  Maine  would  be  wiped  out  in  five  years 
if  fish  culture  should  cease,  and  in  the  West,  where 
the  drain  on  the  salmon  for  canning  purposes  is  so 
heavy,  artificial  planting  is  used  very  largely  to  keep 
up  the  supply. 

The  experiments  with  oysters  are  full  of  inter- 
est. In  Chesapeake  Bay,  where  the  best  natural 
oyster  beds  were  found,  the  demands  on  them  were 
so  great  that  the  supply  began  to  fail.  In  1904  only 
a  little  more  than  one- fourth  as  many  were  pro- 
duced as  in  1880.  The  natural  oyster  beds  were 
then  marked  and  set  aside  as  public  fishing  grounds. 

These  are  to  be  used  by  whoever  wishes  but  un- 
der strict  protective  rules.  All  other  ocean  beds 
may  be  planted  with  oysters  by  any  one  who  leases 
the  privilege  from  the  state,  and  the  right  to  collect 
the  oysters  from  a  certain  bed  belongs  to  the  person 
who  leases  it  as  fully  as  does  property  on  land. 

Louisiana  had  a  small  number  of  natural  beds. 
About  ten  years  ago  the  planting  of  oyster  beds 
began,  and  soon  20,000  acres  had  been  planted. 
Conditions  were  particularly  favorable,  and  within 
two  years  after  the  eggs  or  spawn  were  placed  it 
was  found  that  oysters  three  and  a  half  to  four 


212  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

inches  in  size  had  grown  in  quantities  of  i,ooo  to 
2,000  bushels  per  acre.  For  a  long  time  it  has  been 
the  custom  of  fishermen  to  fatten  their  oysters  by 
transplanting  them  to  new  beds  where  the  food  is 
abundant,  and  in  a  short  time  the  oysters  are  much 
plumper,  it  takes  fewer  of  them  to  make  a  quart 
and  they  also  sell  at  a  higher  price,  because  they  are 
of  the  finest  quality. 

These  rich  food  beds  are  not  plentiful,  and  many 
dealers  are  compelled  to  put  small  oysters  on  the 
market.  The  Bureau  of  Fisheries  has  made  a  study 
of  these  food  beds,  and  by  using  fertilizer,  such  as 
farmers  use  on  their  land,  have  been  able  to  make 
such  beds  of  sea-plants  grow  where  they  do  not 
naturally  exist.  These  experiments  have  been  tried 
only  a  short  time,  but  the  results  have  been  entirely 
satisfactory,  and  it  is  hoped  that  before  long,  rich 
oyster  beds  may  be  made  to  grow  in  any  part  of 
the  ocean  where  oysters  will  thrive. 

In  the  Great  Lakes  the  fishing  is  so  heavy  that 
it  is  probable  that  the  supply  of  perch  and  white 
fish  would  be  very  low  by  this  time  if  fish-culture 
had  not  been  carried  on  to  so  great  an  extent.  White 
fish,  lake  trout,  pike  and  perch  may  be  hatched  in 
such  large  numbers  as  to  keep  the  fisheries  up  to 
their  present  yield. 

Another  important  work  of  the  Fisheries  Bureau 
is  to  keep  up  the  supply  of  cod  for  the  great  fish- 


ANIMAL  FOODS  213 

eries  on  the  New  England  coast.  For  the  last 
twenty  years  profitable  shore  cod  fishery  has  been 
kept  up  on  grounds  that  had  been  entirely  exhausted 
before  and  also  where  cod  had  never  been  found 
before.  At  the  wharves,  government  officers  from 
the  Fisheries  Bureau  board  the  fishing  boats  when 
they  come  in  and  take  the  eggs  from  the  fish.  These 
are  taken  to  the  government  hatchery  and  either  the 
eggs  or  the  young  fish  are  put  back  into  the  sea,  and 
so  keep  up  an  unending  supply. 

Alaska  is  one  of  the  most  important  fishing  re- 
gions of  the  world.  For  this  entire  Territory,  the 
United  States  paid  Russia  $7,200,000  and  many 
thought  that  the  money  was  practically  thrown 
away,  since  it  apparently  bought  for  us  nothing  but 
barren,  ice-bound  shores.  But  since  it  became  a  part 
of  the  United  States,  Alaska  has  yielded  fishery 
products  alone  amounting  in  value  to  $158,000,000 
—  twenty-two  and  a  half  times  the  price  paid.  Of 
this,  $49,000,000  came  from  the  fur  seal  fishery, 
$86,000,000  from  salmon  and  $23,000,000  from 
other  fish. 

About  $1,500,000  worth  of  sponges  are  now  taken 
from  Florida  waters  each  year.  Naturally  the  fail- 
ure of  the  industry  would  be  a  serious  loss  to  the 
state.  But  the  natural  sponge  beds  are  being  rap- 
idly exhausted,  and  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  is  con- 
vinced that  the  continuation  of  the  sponge  fisheries 


214  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

must  depend  on  artificial  planting.  Sponges  can  be 
produced  from  cuttings  at  a  cost  much  less  than  that 
of  taking  them  from  the  natural  beds. 

Rhode  Island  has  been  successful  in  cultivating 
soft-shell  clams  and  in  increasing  the  area  of  its 
clam  beds. 

The  Mississippi  and  its  branches  are  subject  to 
great  floods  in  the  early  spring  and  occasionally  in 
summer.  After  these  floods  millions  of  fishes  are 
left  in  small  pools  some  distance  back  from  the 
river.  These  pools  gradually  dry  up;  the  larger 
fishes  are  caught  and  the  smaller  ones  die.  The 
state  and  National  Fish  Commissions  are  now  col- 
lecting these  fishes  in  large  numbers,  and  using  them 
to  stock  ponds  and  rivers  in  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. 

They  are  used  to  supply  many  parts  of  the  West 
and  South  and  there  is  much  greater  demand  for 
them  than  the  Commissions  can  meet.  Not  that 
there  is  a  lack  of  fish,  for  millions  are  left  to  waste 
because  the  Commissions  can  not  distribute  them 
rapidly  enough  to  save  them.  If  large  storage 
ponds  could  be  established  to  collect  and  keep  the 
fish  during  the  flood  season,  so  that  all  the  time 
might  be  spent  in  collecting  fish  during  the  overflow, 
and  they  could  be  sent  out  later,  the  amount  of  fish 
saved  would  be  increased  many  fold. 


ANIMAL  FOODS  215 

The  fish  thus  saved  are  being  made  to  serve  an- 
other useful  purpose.  Pearl  buttons  are  made  from 
the  shells  of  mussels  or  fresh-water  clams.  This 
business,  which  is  now  worth  $5,000,000,  can  not 
last  many  years  unless  some  means  of  increasing 
the  supply  of  mussels  can  be  devised. 

Now  these  men,  who  are  always  studying  new 
plans,  have  thought  of  a  wonderful  way  in  which 
to  let  the  fish  help  in  carrying  on  this  work.  They 
obtain  the  mussel  eggs,  and  when  they  are  hatched 
place  them  in  the  pools  with  the  fish  from  the  over- 
flowed lands.  The  tiny  mussel  larvae  attach  them- 
selves to  the  fish  and  are  carried  to  the  rivers  and 
ponds  with  the  fish.  Soon  they  are  ready  to  drop 
to  the  bottom  and  find  food  for  themselves. 

In  this  way  25,000,000  mussels  were  carried  last 
year  to  streams  where  musseb  are  known  to  thrive. 
If  these  mussel-bearing  fish  can  be  obtained  by 
farmers  having  private  fish  ponds,  the  ponds  can  be 
drained  each  year  and  the  mussels  gathered,  thus 
adding  considerably  to  the  owner's  income,  and  also 
keeping  up  the  pearl  button  industry,  in  addition  to 
the  food  supply  which  he  gains  from  the  fish. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  clearly  how  desir- 
able and  how  possible  it  is  to  conserve  and  increase 
our  fish  supplies.  With  the  cooperation  of  all  who 
waste  the  fish  at  present,  and  those  who  might  aid 


2i6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

in  stocking  the  streams,  we  could  add  greatly  to  the 
food  supply  of  the  nation  at  a  less  cost  than  in  any 
other  way. 

REFERENCES 

Grazing  Lands.    Report  National  Conservation  Commission. 

Grazing  on  the  Public  Lands.  (Jastro.)  Report  Governor's 
Conference. 

The  Grazing  Lands  and  Public  Forests  of  Arizona. 
(Heard.)     Report  Governor's  Conference. 

Grazing  Problems  in  the  Southwest  and  How  to  Meet 
Them.     Bulletin,  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  5c, 

Reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry.  Dept.  of  Agri- 
culture. 

Distribution  of  Fish  and  Fish  Eggs.  Dept.  Commerce  and 
Labor.* 

Reports  of  the  Commission  of  Fisheries. 

National  Fisheries  Congress. 

•  All  Bureau  and  Commission  reports  are  free. 


CHAPTER  X 

INSECTS 

If  we  look  at  a  watch,  we  see  that  one  wheel  can 
not  move  until  the  one  next  in  order  to  it  moves,  and 
that,  in  turn,  must  be  set  in  motion  by  another  wheel. 
In  the  same  way  nature  adjusts  itself  in  its  various 
parts.  Before  man  enters  a  region,  the  balance  is 
perfect.  Plants  crowd  each  other  out  of  the  way, 
the  weaker  giving  place  to  the  stronger ;  then  insects 
come  to  destroy  them.  These  insects  are  destroyed 
by  birds,  small  mammals  or  other  insects.  The 
birds  are  killed  by  animals  and  other  birds,  which  in 
turn  are  the  food  of  larger  animals.  And  so 
through  all  nature  runs  this  law  of  balance;  nothing 
increases  in  too  great  a  proportion. 

But  when  man  comes,  he  thinks  only  of  his  own 
needs  and  wishes  and  begins  at  once  to  upset  the 
delicate  balance.  Year  after  year,  he  plants  large 
fields  of  a  single  crop,  and,  calling  other  plants 
weeds,  because  they  hinder  the  growth  of  his  grain, 
he  drives  them  out  entirely.  The  insects  that  feed 
on  these  plants,  finding  no   food,  soon  disappear, 

217 


2i8  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

while  the  ones  which  feed  on  the  farmers'  crops, 
finding  food  so  plentiful,  are  able  to  increase  in  great 
numbers.  They  increase  all  the  more  rapidly  be- 
cause man,  not  knowing  or  not  caring  to  know  who 
his  real  helpers  are,  has  killed  and  driven  away  the 
birds  that  would  feed  on  them. 

In  order  to  readjust  matters,  he  must  learn  how 
to  destroy  the  insects,  or  he  can  not  have  crops. 
Both  the  plant  enemies,  the  weeds,  and  the  insects 
are  always  trying  to  bring  about  nature's  balance 
again  by  driving  out  the  over-abundant  field  crop,  so 
he  must  constantly  fight  them  in  order  to  secure  his 
harvest. 

In  no  country  is  more  harm  done  by  insects  than 
in  the  United  States.  The  losses  to  live  stock  and 
to  plants,  both  growing  and  stored,  resulting  from 
insects  are  greater  than  all  the  expenses  of  the  Na- 
tional Government,  including  the  pension  roll  and 
the  yearly  maintenance  of  the  army  and  navy. 

Immense  as  is  the  value  of  our  farm  products, 
it  would  be  much  greater  if  it  were  not  for  the  work 
of  these  insects.  Careful  calculations  indicate  that 
this  loss  will  amount  to  not  less  than  the  enormous 
sum  of  $1,100,000,000  annually  and  probably  far 
more.  The  loss  is  usually  estimated  at  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  crop,  but  often  is  much  heavier  than  this,  and 
many  indirect  losses  are  not  taken  into  account  in 
this  table,  though  we  shall  speak  of  them  later. 


INSECTS  219 

Most  insects  pass  through  four  stages:  (i)  the 
Ggg;  (2)  the  worm  or  larvae;  (3)  the  chrysaHs, 
cocoon,  or  pupa;  (4)  the  full-grown  insect  or 
imago.  Butterflies,  moths  and  beetles  are  examples 
of  insects  in  this  last  stage. 

As  eggs,  they  are,  of  course,  harmless,  and  during 
the  chrysalis  state  they  lie  perfectly  inactive  and 
are  harmless,  but  many  of  them  are  very  destructive 
when  they  are  worms  or  larvse,  others  do  most  in- 
jury in  the  full-grown  state. 

The  insects  that  man  has  most  reason  to  dread 
are :  ( i )  Plant-lice,  tiny  insects  with  soft  bodies, 
usually  green.  They  attach  themselves  to  the 
stems  and  leaves  of  plants  and  suck  their  juices, 
leaving  them  to  wilt  and  die.  They  are  found  on 
many  kinds  of  plants  —  on  corn,  wheat  and  other 
grains.  They  also  flourish  on  garden  vegetables 
and  flowers. 

(2)  Scale  insects.  These  are  flat  and  appear  to 
be  only  a  scale  on  the  stem  or  fruit.  They  are 
usually  covered  with  a  hard  crust-like  covering  and 
are  found  on  trees  and  bushes.  They  are  usually 
the  color  of  the  bark  on  which  they  are  found. 

(3)  Worms  and  caterpillars  are  soft-bodied,  the 
bodies  being  in  segments,  and  either  smooth  or  cov- 
ered with  short  bristly  hair.  They  spend  nearly 
all  their  time  in  eating,  and  do  immense  damage 
to  the  foliage  of  trees  and  vegetables  and  to  fruit. 


220  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

The  adult  is  a  moth  or  caterpillar.     This  class  is 
among  the  farmer's  worst  insect  enemies. 

(4)  Borers  attack  trees  and  tough-stemmed 
plants.  The  eggs  are  laid  on  the  stems,  and  after 
hatching,  the  larvae  bore  into  the  stem  or  under 
the  bark,  causing  the  foliage  to  wilt  and  die.  We 
are  all  familiar  with  what  we  call  "  worm-eaten  " 
wood,  with  canals  that  have  been  eaten  by  these 
borers  running  through  it  in  all  directions.  This 
completely  ruins  some  of  the  best  forest  trees  for 
lumber,  and  makes  one  of  the  greatest  losses  of  the 
forests. 

(5)  Beetles  are  insects  in  the  adult  state.  They 
have  hard,  shiny  wing-covers.  Many  of  the  bor- 
ers are  beetles,  and  there  are  other  varieties  which 
do  great  damage,  though  other  kinds  are  useful  to 
man  in  destroying  harmful  insects. 

(6)  Bugs  have  their  mouth  parts  prolonged  into 
a  sharp  beak  with  which  they  puncture  the  skin  or 
bark,  instead  of  chewing  the  leaves,  as  do  beetles. 
Flies,  gnats,  and  other  similar  insects  do  not  usu- 
ally injure  vegetation  so  much  as  do  some  other 
classes  of  insects,  the  principal  damage  being  done 
to  fruits;  but  they  have  been  found  to  be  the  cause 
of  some  of  the  most  serious  diseases  in  both  man 
and  the  lower  animals. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  divides  the  in- 
juries done  by  insects  into  classes  according  to  the 


INSECTS  221 

products  injured,  and  in  the  list  they  place  first  the 
injury  done  to  cereal  crops. 

The  insects  which  damage  the  corn  crop  most 
seriously  are  the  corn-root  worm,  which  feeds  on 
the  roots  of  young  corn,  causing  it  to  fall  over  and 
die,  and  which  sometimes  takes  the  whole  com  crop 
of  a  large  region.  The  next  most  important  is  the 
boll-worm  or  ear-worm.  Most  persons  have  seen 
this  worm  in  the  ears  of  sweet  corn;  ninety  ears 
out  of  every  hundred  contain  a  worm  which  de- 
stroys from  one-tenth  to  one-half  the  corn.  Some 
years  every  ear  in  large  regions  is  infested.  In 
the  South  the  field  corn  is  attacked  as  badly  as  the 
sweet  corn,  but  in  the  great  corn  states  the  injury 
is  much  less.  Even  here,  however,  the  total  loss  is 
very  great. 

Almost  equally  important  is  the  damage  wrought 
by  the  chinch-bug,  which  is  also  one  of  the  greatest 
pests  in  wheat  and  oats. 

Every  year  in  different  sections  of  the  country, 
bill-bugs,  wire-worms,  cutworms,  cornstalk  borers, 
locusts,  grasshoppers,  corn  plant-lice  and  other  in- 
sects, destroy  millions  of  bushels  of  corn. 

Of  the  cereal  crops,  wheat  suffers  most  from 
insects.  Of  the  large  number  of  insects  that  attack 
wheat,  the  three  important  species  are  the  Hessian 
fly,  the  chinch-bug  and  the  grain  plant-louse  or 
green-bug. 


222  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

The  Hessian  fly  has  been  known  to  destroy  as 
much  as  sixty  per  cent,  of  all  the  wheat  acreage  of 
a  state.  Fortunately,  this  damage  is  done  early  in 
the  year,  so  that  when  whole  fields  are  destroyed 
they  can  be  replanted  with  other  crops  and  only  the 
cost  of  seed  and  labor  is  to  be  counted  as  a  loss. 
But  more  often  the  field  is  only  partly  destroyed 
by  the  fly;  it  is  not  necessary  to  replant,  but  the 
yield  is  small,  often  not  more  than  one-third.  Some 
years  the  loss  from  the  Hessian  fly  is  very  heavy, 
at  other  times  comparatively  light,  yet  there  are 
few  years  when  the  loss  is  less  than  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  total  crop  from  this  insect  alone, —  which  meant 
last  year  a  loss  of  72,500,000  bushels. 

The  chinch-bug  is  responsible  for  the  loss  of  five 
per  cent.,  or  one  bushel  out  of  every  twenty.  It 
attacks  the  straw,  causing  the  heads  of  wheat  to 
fall  over  and  wither  away. 

The  injury  done  by  the  green-bug  comes  just  as 
the  wheat  begins  to  ripen,  the  tiny  green  creatures 
attaching  themselves  in  great  numbers  to  the  heads 
of  the  wheat.  Other  insects  which  prey  on  the 
wheat  crop  are  grasshoppers,  the  wheat  midge,  cut- 
worms and  army-worms. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  attacks  of  these  various 
pests  the  wheat  crop  would  be  at  least  one-fifth 
larger  than  it  is.  Instead  of  725,000,000  bushels, 
it  would  be  870,000,000;  which,  with  wheat  at  a 


INSECTS  223 

dollar  a  bushel,  amounts  to  a  loss  of  nearly  $150,- 
000,000.  Further,  the  world  loses  all  this  valuable 
bread-stuff, 

Oats,  rye  and  barley  suffer  far  less  than  wheat 
from  insect  ravages  but  they  are  all  attacked  by  the 
same  insects,  and  on  the  whole,  much  damage  is 
done  to  them  each  year. 

Hay,  clover,  and  alfalfa  have  their  enemies  which 
destroy  a  considerable  part  of  the  crops.  The  lo- 
custs and  caterpillars,  the  army-worms  and  cut- 
worms are  the  best  known,  but  the  tiny  leaf-hop- 
pers, which  spring  up  at  every  step  as  we  walk 
across  the  path  or  lawn,  and  the  web-worms  and 
grass-worms  and  grubs  which  work  about  the  roots 
of  the  plants  all  do  their  part  in  lowering  the  produc- 
tion. 

The  principal  insect  enemies  of  cotton  are  the 
cotton  boll-weevil,  the  boll-worm,  the  cotton  red 
spider,  and  the  cotton-leaf  worm.  The  control  of 
the  boll-weevil  is  considered  one  of  the  most  serious 
problems  confronting  the  agricultural  men  of  the 
country.  In  the  first  years  after  its  introduction, 
it  reduced  the  cotton  crop  fully  fifty  per  cent,  and 
was  the  cause,  not  only  of  serious  loss  to  the  farm- 
ers, but  of  the  closing  of  the  cotton  mills  in  New 
England,  of  a  scarcity  of  cotton  cloth  and  a  decided 
rise  in  its  price.  The  boll-weevil  is  a  beetle  about 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length.     This  little  beetle 


224  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

eats  into  the  heart  of  each  boll,  which  soon  falls  to 
the  ground. 

The  cotton-leaf  worm  formerly  caused  heavy 
damage,  as  much  as  $20,000,000  to  $30,000,000  a 
year,  but  the  loss  has  been  greatly  reduced  by  the 
war  which  farmers  have  waged  against  it.  It  is 
still  estimated  at  from  $5,000,000  to  $10,000,000. 

The  boll-worm  is  chiefly  destructive  in  the  South- 
west and  does  damage  to  the  extent  of  $12,000,- 
000. 

All  in  all  no  article  of  commerce  is  more  seriously 
affected  by  insect  ravages  than  cotton,  on  account  of 
its  necessity,  and  the  fact  that  it  can  be  raised  only 
in  certain  regions. 

Tobacco  is  one  of  the  principal  crops  in  several 
states  and  it  suffers  heavily  from  insect  damage. 
The  large,  showy  tobacco-worm  and  the  tiny  to- 
bacco-thrips  cause  serious  injury  to  the  leaves. 

Sugar-cane  has  its  insect  enemies  which  take  on 
an  average  one  stalk  out  of  every  ten  raised  in  this 
country,  and  reduce  the  crop  in  the  same  propor- 
tion. 

The  cranberry  is  another  valuable  commercial 
plant  that  has  been  greatly  affected  by  an  insect 
known  as  the  cranberry  fruit  worm,  but  by 
spraying,  growers  have  been  able  to  reduce  the 
damage  from  sixty  per  cent,  down  to  fourteen  per 
cent. 


INSECTS  225 

Garden  vegetables  suffer  more  than  anything 
else  from  insects.  Potatoes  are  attacked  by  two 
species  of  insects,  both  destructive  unless  held  in 
check.  One  is  the  reddish  brown  blister-beetle. 
The  eggs  are  laid  on  the  ground,  and  do  not  be- 
come adult  insects  until  the  second  year.  The 
other  is  the  striped  Colorado  beetle,  the  eggs  of 
which  are  laid  on  the  under  side  of  the  leaves,  and 
develop  into  adults  in  a  short  time.  Two  broods 
of  this  beetle  develop  in  a  single  season.  Thus 
it  may  be  seen  that  the  two  are  entirely  different, 
though  they  are  often  supposed  to  be  the  same. 
The  Colorado  beetle,  by  the  immense  damage  it  was 
doing  to  a  necessary  food  crop,  first  led  to  a  regular 
method  of  fighting  insects  in  this  country.  This 
potato-bug  is  not  feared  as  it  was  in  the  past,  since 
farmers  have  learned  to  control  it  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, but  they  have  only  been  able  to  lessen  the  evil, 
never  to  drive  it  out  completely. 

Other  insects  that  destroy  garden  vegetables  are 
the  well-known  green  cabbage-worm,  the  harlequin 
cabbage-bug,  the  cabbage  hairworm,  the  asparagus- 
beetle,  the  squash-bug,  the  squash-vine  borer,  the 
striped  cucumber  or  melon  beetle,  the  melon  aphis, 
the  corn  boll-worm,  the  cornstalk  borer  and  many 
others. 

In  addition  to  these  insects  that  attack  special 
plants,  all  vegetables  are  preyed  on  by  the  grub- 


226  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

worm,  the  cutworm,  the  aphis  and  various  tiny 
hoppers. 

The  grub- worms  which  work  about  the  roots  of 
plants  are,  in  the  adult  state,  the  June-bugs  or  cock- 
chafers which  fly  about  our  lights  in  the  spring 
and  early  summer,  and  which  themselves  do  con- 
siderable damage  by  eating  leaves  of  trees  and 
bushes. 

Orchards  and  small  fruits  suffer  heavily  from 
insect  pests,  both  on  account  of  the  direct  loss  and 
on  account  of  the  expensive  treatment.  There  are 
several  hundred  insects  which  ravage  fruit  trees, 
attacking  the  roots,  trunk,  foliage  and  fruit. 

Among  these  are  the  scales,  of  which  there  are 
many  species,  but  of  which  the  most  widely  known 
and  dreaded  is  the  San  Jose  scale,  so  called  because 
San  Jose,  California,  was  its  starting  place  in  Amer- 
ica. It  is  the  only  one  of  the  scales  which,  if  not 
checked,  will,  in  two  or  three  years,  completely 
destroy  the  tree  on  which  it  feeds.  It  attacks  the 
citrus  fruits,  orange,  lemon,  grape-fruit,  and  the 
apple,  pear,  and  peach  as  well  as  small  fruits,  par- 
ticularly currants. 

Among  the  many  varieties  that  do  serious  damage 
are  the  black  olive  scale,  plum  scale,  hickory  scale, 
locust  scale,  frosted  black  scale,  red  oak  scale,  the 
cottony  maple  scale,  greedy  scale  and  oyster  shell 
scale. 


INSECTS  227 

The  woolly  aphis  injures  the  roots  of  our  fruit 
trees;  the  trunk  and  limb  borers,  the  peach  tree 
borer,  the  apple  borer,  all  stand  ready  to  assail  the 
life  of  the  entire  tree.  The  various  leaf  worms 
attack  the  life  of  the  tree  also.  The  grape-leaf 
skeletonizer  eats  every  particle  of  green  from  the 
leaves,  leaving  only  the  veins.  The  canker-worms 
and  the  destructive  tent-caterpillars  also  cause  the 
death  of  many  fruit  trees. 

Of  insects  which  attack  the  fruit,  the  list  is  long. 
The  codling-moth  of  the  apple  causes  a  greater 
money  loss  than  any  other  enemy  of  fruits.  Vari- 
ous estimates  of  the  loss  have  been  made,  and  in 
general  it  is  believed  that  it  causes  the  loss  of  one- 
fourth  to  one-half  of  the  apple  crop  of  the  United 
States  each  year. 

The  plum-curculio  attacks  nearly  all  stone  fruits. 
Its  natural  food  plant  is  probably  the  native  wild 
plum,  and  the  plum  continues  to  be  its  favorite 
food,  consequently  this  fruit  suffers  most  from  the 
attacks  of  the  insect.  In  years  of  short  crops  very 
little  fruit  remains  on  the  tree  to  ripen.  But  peaches, 
apricots  and  cherries  also  suffer  heavily,  and  apples 
and  pears  in  a  less  degree. 

The  insects  which  injure  the  hardwood  forest 
trees  are  principally  the  leaf -eaters,  such  as  the 
gypsy  and  brown  tail  moths,  which  have  almost 
stripped  the  New  England  shade  trees,  and  done 


228  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

great  damage  to  the  forests ;  the  elm  leaf  beetles  and 
the  numerous  borers,  both  beetles  and  grubs,  which 
from  eggs  laid  in  or  just  beneath  the  bark,  hatch 
into  larvae  which  burrow  into  the  wood,  destroying 
its  usefulness  for  lumber.  Among  the  borers 
which  do  most  injury  in  destroying  valuable  timber 
are  the  hickory-bark  beetle,  the  bark-boring  grubs 
which  kill  oak,  chestnut,  birch  and  poplar  trees, 
the  locust  borer,  the  chestnut  timber-worm  and  the 
Columbian  timber  beetle. 

All  these  represent  the  loss  from  insects  to  the 
growing  product;  but  when  it  is  stored,  there  is 
seemingly  no  less  danger  of  attack  by  a  different 
class  of  insects.  These  include  grain  weevils  and 
beetles,  flour-moths,  the  small  fruit  and  vinegar 
flies,  buffalo-moths  and  dozens  of  others. 

After  these  comes  the  loss  to  man  and  animals 
from  insects.  The  cattle  tick  alone,  through  the 
dreaded  Texas  fever,  causes  a  loss  of  from  $io,- 
ocx),ooo  to  $35,000,000  in  various  years.  The  ox 
warble  also  preys  on  cattle  and  causes  a  loss  of 
probably  $3,000,000  more.  The  buffalo-gnats, 
gadflies,  and  other  flies  do  on  the  whole  a  large 
amount  of  damage  each  year. 

Man  has  only  discovered  in  recent  years  how 
serious  a  factor  in  his  own  health  as  well  as  com- 
fort, is  the  insect  life  about  him.  This  subject  is 
more  fully  treated  under  the  subject  of  health,  so 


INSECTS  229 

for  the  present  we  need  only  say  that  flies,  mos- 
quitos  and  other  insects  are  supposed  to  cause  some 
of  our  most  serious  diseases,  and  to  be  the  indirect 
cause  of  the  loss  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dol- 
lars and  many  human  lives  each  year. 

Having  thus  summed  up  the  damage  done  by 
insects,  let  us  see  what  may  be  done  to  prevent  their 
spread  and  if  possible  drive  out  the  most  harmful 
species  entirely.  Unfortunately,  that  seems  almost 
impossible;  so  far  all  man's  efforts  have  only  re- 
sulted in  saving  a  larger  or  smaller  proportion  of  the 
various  crops  each  year. 

In  insect  control  we  turn  first  to  the  natural  means 
of  destruction.  Chief  among  these  means  are 
birds, —  of  which  we  will  speak  in  another  chapter, 
—  snakes  and  toads. 

Toads  live  entirely  on  insects  and  catch  large 
quantities  of  them.  It  is  estimated  that  a  single 
toad  is  worth  almost  twenty  dollars  a  year  in  a 
field  or  garden.  English  gardeners  are  said  to  pay 
high  prices  for  them  and  to  keep  as  many  as  pos- 
sible in  their  gardens.  Toads  will  eat  almost  any 
kind  of  insect,  are  absolutely  harmless,  and  should 
be  carefully  protected. 

There  is  one  class  of  insects  which,  so  far  from 
being  an  enemy  to  man,  combines  with  him  to  kill 
the  harmful  insects.  Among  these  are  the  black 
beetles  which  feed  on  cutworms  and  other  larvae 


230  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

which  injure  the  roots  of  plants.  Lady-bird  beetles 
destroy  large  numbers  of  plant-lice,  and  the  Asiatic 
lady-bird  has  been  found  to  be  the  natural  destroyer 
of  the  San  Jose  scale.  These  little  insects  are  now 
being  hatched  in  this  country,  and  it  is  hoped 
through  them  to  stamp  out  the  pest.  A  number  of 
larger  insects  prey  on  the  smaller  ones. 

Other  insects,  such  as  the  Hessian  fly,  the  green- 
bug  or  spring  grain  aphis,  the  army-worm  and  va- 
rious species  of  grasshoppers  are  killed  by  tiny- 
parasitic  insects  whose  eggs  are  laid  in  the  bodies  of 
the  larger  insects,  but  which,  after  being  hatched, 
feed  on  them. 

To  these  natural  methods  of  control  man  has 
added  others.  Cultivation  is  one  of  these  methods. 
As  insects  flourish  when  given  an  unusually  large 
amount  of  food  of  a  particular  kind,  and  starve 
when  that  food  is  taken  away  from  them,  so  rotation 
of  crops  proves  to  be  one  of  the  best  means  of  get- 
ting rid  of  those  insects  which  can  not  travel  far  for 
their  food.  Farmers  who  practise  rotation  of 
crops  are  much  less  troubled  with  insects  that  in- 
jure the  roots  of  plants  than  those  who  do  not. 

One  of  the  best  means  of  preventing  damage  from 
the  Hessian  fly  is  to  sow  a  narrow  strip  of  wheat 
all  around  the  edges  of  the  field  several  weeks  be- 
fore the  main  crop  is  to  be  sowed.     The  flies  will 


INSECTS  231 

gather  in  this  strip  and  lay  all  their  eggs  in  the  early 
wheat.  Just  before  the  main  crop  is  sowed,  the 
narrow  strip  is  plowed  up  and  thoroughly  harrowed 
and  the  larvae  perish  for  want  of  food. 

The  best  known  means  of  getting  rid  of  grass- 
hoppers is  to  destroy  the  eggs.  This  should  be 
done  by  plowing  and  harrowing  all  roadsides,  ditch 
banks,  uncultivated  fields  and  grassy  margins  around 
fields  in  the  fall  or  winter. 

Fall  harrowing  and  deep  spring  plowing  will  pre- 
vent many  of  the  bugs  and  beetles  which  spend  the 
larval  state  in  the  ground  from  hatching.  This 
method  will  also  destroy  the  plum-curculio  in 
orchards. 

In  attempting  to  control  the  boll-weevil  of  the 
cotton  fields,  it  has  been  found  that  the  best  method 
to  pursue  is  the  simple  one  of  planting  the  crop 
very  early,  so  that  the  cotton  passes  the  danger 
stage  before  the  insects  emerge,  and  removing  all 
the  plants  in  the  fall. 

Worms  that  infest  fruit  can  be  checked  for  the 
following  year  by  fall  plowing  in  the  orchard  and 
by  destroying  the  decayed  fruit  as  it  falls.  The 
farmer  who  lets  his  decayed  fruit  lie  on  the  ground 
is  preparing  for  a  heavy  crop  of  insects  to  eat  his 
fruit  the  following  summer. 

Fruit  and  forest  trees  are  both  protected  by  a 


232  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

burlap  band  or  a  band  of  "  sticky  "  fly-paper  placed 
around  the  tree,  to  prevent  insects  from  crawling 
up. 

The  use  of  poison  in  destroying  insects  is  now 
the  one  most  generally  and  successfully  employed 
by  farmers  and  fruit  growers. 

Poisons  may  be  liquid  or  dry.  The  liquid  is  made 
by  mixing  with  water,  and  for  large  plants  and 
trees  is  put  on  with  a  spray  or  force-pump  that 
carries  the  poison  to  every  part  of  the  plant. 

Some  insects,  such  as  beetles,  caterpillars  and 
grasshoppers,  chew  the  leaves  or  stems  of  plants, 
and  the  poison  may  be  applied  to  their  food;  but 
others,  such  as  plant-lice,  scale  insects  and  all  bugs 
suck  the  juice,  usually  from  the  stem  or  bark. 
Poisons  must  be  applied  to  the  insect  itself  to  be 
effectual  in  this  case. 

These  are  some  of  the  insect  poisons  most  in 
use:   > 

Paris  green,  which  will  kill  all  insects  that  chew 
the  leaves,  may  be  used  in  small  quantities  in  gardens 
by  mixing  one-half  teaspoonful  to  a  gallon  of  water, 
or  in  large  quantities  with  one  pound  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  gallons  of  water. 

White  hellebore  is  used  to  destroy  currant  worms 
and  is  usually  dusted  on  dry. 

Pyrethrum  is  used  as  a  spray,  mixing  one  ounce 
to  two  gallons  of  water,  to  destroy  cabbage- worms 


INSECTS  233 

and  many  other  garden  insects.  If  the  dry  pyre- 
thrum  powder  is  blown  from  a  bellows  into  a  tightly 
closed  room,  it  is  said  to  destroy  all  the  flies. 

Bordeaux  mixture  is  made  by  dissolving  four 
pounds  of  copper  sulphate  in  hot  water  and  mixing 
with  an  equal  quantity  of  a  solution  made  by  mix- 
ing four  pounds  of  lime  with  water.  This  is  then 
mixed  with  fifty  gallons  of  water.  Paris  green  is 
sometimes  added.  This  mixture  is  largely  used  in 
orchards  and  for  destroying  insects  on  a  large  scale. 
It  is  also  useful  for  curing  diseases  of  plants. 

An  excellent  spray  for  orchards  both  for  remov- 
ing fungous  diseases  and  scale  insects  is  a  home- 
made lime-and-sulphur  solution.  Enough  for  spray- 
ing a  large  orchard  is  prepared  as  follows : 

Add  three  gallons  of  boiling  water  to  fifteen 
pounds  of  lime.  Then  add  ten  pounds  of  sulphur 
and  three  gallons  more  of  hot  water.  Allow  this  to 
boil  about  twenty  minutes  in  its  own  heat,  then  add 
enough  water  to  make  fifty  gallons  of  the  mixture. 
Dilute  with  water  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  of 
the  solution  to  seventy-five  of  water. 

Small  quantities  are  made  by  using  a  fractional 
part  of  this  recipe. 

Whale-oil  soap  dissolved  in  water  and  used  as  a 
spray  is  an  effective  remedy  for  the  San  Jose  scale. 

Kerosene  emulsion  is  used  to  kill  the  insects 
which  suck  the  juices  of  plants  and  trees.     It  is 


234  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

made  by  mixing  a  half-pound  of  hard  soap  with 
one  gallon  of  hot  water  and  stirring  into  it,  so  as 
to  mix  thoroughly,  two  gallons  of  kerosene  oil. 
This  may  be  kept  on  hand  for  use,  and  is  mixed 
with  ten  parts  of  water  to  one  of  the  emulsion. 

For  use  in  large  orchards  force-pumps  operated 
by  compressed  air  and  drawn  by  two  horses  are 
used.  The  spraying  should  be  done  as  soon  as 
the  blossoms  drop,  and  many  orchards  are  sprayed 
three  times  in  a  season,  but  the  work  should  never 
be  done  while  the  trees  are  in  blossom.  Vegetables 
should  be  sprayed  many  times  through  the  season. 

A  careful  study  of  these  methods  of  control, 
adapted  to  the  various  plants  and  the  insects  which 
prey  on  them,  with  the  natural  enemies  of  insects 
encouraged  and  protected,  would  go  far  to  prevent 
the  wide-spread  and  serious  damage  now  affect- 
ing our  crops,  our  vegetables,  our  orchards,  and 
our  forests. 

REFERENCES 

Circulars  of  the  Bureau  of  Entomology.  Dept.  of  Agri- 
culture.   List  furnished  on  application. 

Annual  Loss  Occasioned  by  Destructive  Insects.  Year- 
book 1904.* 

Value  of  Insect  Parasitism  to  the  American  Farmer. 
Yearbook  1907. 

•  Some  of  the  Yearbooks  of  the  Dept.  of  Agriculture  contain  very 
instructive  reports  on  Insects  and  on  Birds.  Reprints  on  various  sub- 
jects have  been  made  from  them  which  are  available  in  pamphlet  form, 
or  the  entire  Yearbook  may  be  had  in  many  cases. 


INSECTS  235 

House  Flies.    Dept.  of  Agriculture.    Bulletin  71. 

The  Grasshopper  Problem.     Bulletin  84. 

The  Boll-Weevil  Problem.     Bulletin  344. 

The  Most  Important  Step  in  the  Control  of  the  Boll- 
Weevil.     Bulletin  95. 

The  San  Jose  Scale.    Yearbook  1902. 

The  Plum-Curculio.     Bulletin  "JZ- 

The  Apple  Codling-Moth.    Bulletin  41.     Price  20c. 

The  Gipsy  Moth  and  How  to  Control  It.     Bulletin  275. 

The  Brown-tail  Moth  and  How  to  Control  It.  Bulletin 
264. 

The  Spring  Grain  Aphis  or  Green-Bug.    Bulletin  93. 

The  Army- Worm,     Bulletin  4. 

The  Hessian  Fly.     Bulletin  70. 

The  Chinch-Bug.     Bulletin  17. 

The  Principal  Household  Insects  of  the  U.  S.    Bulletin  4. 

Insects  Affecting  Domestic  Animals.    Bulletin  5. 


CHAPTER  XI 

BIRDS 

Birds  give  us  pleasure  in  three  ways:  by  their 
beauty,  by  their  song  and  by  their  usefulness  in  de- 
stroying animals,  insects  or  plants  which  are  harm- 
ful to  man. 

But  although  they  are  among  man's  best  friends 
they  have  been  greatly  misunderstood,  so  that  to 
the  many  natural  enemies  that  are  constantly  prey- 
ing on  birds,  we  must  add  the  warfare  that  man 
himself  wages  on  them,  and  the  cutting  down  of 
their  forest  homes.  This  work  of  bird  destruction 
has  gone  on  until  all  the  best  species  are  greatly 
reduced  in  numbers  and  some  species  have  been 
almost  entirely  driven  out. 

To  see  how  serious  a  matter  this  is  we  must  study 
the  food  habits  of  birds,  and  we  shall  find  that  al- 
though the  different  species  eat  a  large  variety  of 
food,  in  almost  every  case  their  natural  food  is 
something  harmful  to  man. 

The  large  American  birds,  the  eagles,  hawks, 
owls  and  similar  kinds,  are  called  birds  of  prey  be- 
cause they  feed  on  small  birds  and  animals.     Some 

236 


BIRDS  237 

of  these  are  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  farmer, 
while  others  are  altogether  harmful.  Another 
large  class  of  birds  lives  almost  entirely  on  injur- 
ious insects  and  this  class  is  entitled  to  the  fullest 
care  and  protection  from  the  farmer. 

Still  anotheir  class  lives  largely  on  fruits,  wild  or 
cultivated,  and  on  seeds,  which  may  be  either  the 
farmer's  most  valuable  grains,  or  seeds  of  the 
weeds  that  would  choke  out  the  grain. 

It  can  not  be  denied  that  birds  often  do  serious 
damage  through  their  food  habits;  but  the  great 
mistake  that  has  been  made  in  man's  treatment  of 
birds  has  been  in  hastily  deciding  that  if  birds  are 
seen  flitting  about  fields  of  grain  they  are  destroy- 
ing the  crop.  A  better  knowledge  of  their  food 
habits  will  lead  to  proper  measures  for  destroying 
the  harmful  kinds  and  protecting  the  useful  ones. 

Successful  agriculture  could  hardly  be  practised 
without  birds,  and  the  benefit  to  man,  though 
amounting  each  year  to  millions  of  dollars,  can 
hardly  be  estimated  in  dollars  and  cents,  since  it 
affects  so  closely  the  size  of  our  crops,  the  amount 
of  timber  saved  for  use  in  manufactures,  and  even 
the  health  of  the  people. 

Here  again  we  see  the  careful  balancing  that 
runs  through  nature;  how  carefully  each  thing  is 
adjusted  to  its  work.  Naturally  the  balance  be- 
tween birds,  insects  and  plants  would  remain  true, 


238  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

no  one  increasing  beyond  its  proper  amount.  But 
when  man  begins  to  destroy  certain  things,  and 
to  cultivate  others,  this  balance  is  seriously  dis- 
turbed. The  birds  that  destroy  weed  seeds  being 
killed,  weeds  flourish  in  such  vast  numbers  as  to 
drive  out  the  cultivated  crops.  The  birds  which 
destroy  mice,  moles,  gophers,  etc.,  being  killed, 
these  animals  become  a  nuisance  and  cause  serious 
losses.  If  insect-destroying  birds  are  driven  out, 
the  farmer  will  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  insects  un- 
less he  employs  troublesome  and  expensive  methods 
of  getting  rid  of  them.  Certain  favorable  condi- 
tions cause  large  numbers  of  birds  to  gather  in  a 
small  region  and  they  become  a  pest.  Very  careful 
observation  has  shown  that  in  nearly  every  case  the 
favorite  food  of  the  birds  is  something  which  is 
not  valued  by  man,  and  if  this  food  is  provided, 
the  farm  grains  and  fruits  will  not  be  seriously 
molested. 

Few  birds  are  altogether  good,  still  fewer  are 
altogether  bad;  most  species  are  of  great  benefit, 
even  if  at  the  same  time  they  do  some  harm.  Some 
birds  do  serious  damage  at  one  season,  and  much 
good  at  another.  The  most  notable  example  of  this 
is  the  bobolink,  which  in  northern  wheat  fields  is 
loved  no  less  for  his  merry  song  than  for  the  thou- 
sands of  weed  seeds  and  insects  he  destroys;  while 
in  the  South  he  is  known  as  the  reed-bird  or  rice- 


BIRDS  239 

bird,  the  most  dreaded  of  all  foes  to  the  rice 
crop. 

Flying  down  on  the  fields  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands these  birds  often  take  almost  the  entire  crop 
of  a  district.  The  yearly  loss  to  rice-growers  from 
bobolinks  has  been  estimated  at  two  million  dollars. 

If  crows  or  blackbirds  are  seen  in  large  numbers 
about  fields  of  grain  they  are  generally  accused  of 
robbing  the  farmer,  but  more  often  they  are  busily 
engaged  in  hunting  the  insects  that  without  their 
help  would  soon  have  destroyed  his  crop ;  and  even 
if  they  do  considerable  damage  at  one  season  they 
often  pay  for  it  many  times  over. 

Whether  a  bird  is  helpful  or  the  reverse,  in  fact, 
depends  entirely  on  the  food  it  eats  and  often  even 
farmers  who  have  been  familiar  with  birds  all  their 
lives  do  not  know  what  food  a  bird  really  eats. 
As  an  example  of  the  misunderstanding  that  is  often 
found  in  regard  to  birds,  when  hawks  are  seen 
searching  the  fields  and  meadows,  or  owls  flying 
about  the  orchards  in  the  evening,  the  farmer  al- 
ways supposes  that  his  poultry  is  in  danger,  when 
in  reality  the  birds  are  quite  as  likely  to  be  hunting 
for  the  animals  which  destroy  grain,  produce,  young 
trees,  and  eggs  of  birds. 

In  order  to  correct  such  mistaken  ideas  the  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  has  made  a  most  careful 
and  accurate  study  of  the  habits  of  birds,  and  it  is 


240  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

the  results  of  these  observations  that  are  recorded 
here. 

Field  workers  from  this  Department  who  have 
observed  the  habits  of  the  principal  birds  that  live 
among  men,  have  watched  them  all  day  and  from 
one  day  to  another  as  they  fed  their  little  ones,  and, 
to  be  more  certain  of  their  facts,  they  have  ex- 
amined the  stomachs  of  hundreds  of  birds,  both 
old  and  young,  to  learn  exactly  what  each  bird  had 
eaten.  In  this  way  they  have  proved  absolutely 
that  many  species  that  are  supposed  to  eat  chickens, 
or  fruit  or  grain,  in  reality  never  touch  them,  but 
are  among  the  farmer's  best  friends. 

Among  other  things  they  have  learned  that  while 
they  are  feeding  their  young,  birds  are  especially 
valuable  on  a  farm.  Baby  birds  require  food  with 
a  large  amount  of  nourishment  in  it  that  can  be 
easily  digested.  Almost  all  young  birds  have  soft, 
tender  stomachs,  and  must  be  fed  on  insects;  as 
they  grow  older,  the  stomach  or  gizzard  hardens 
and  is  capable  of  grinding  hard  grain  or  seeds.  The 
amount  of  food  required  by  the  baby  birds  is  as- 
tonishing. At  certain  stages  of  their  growth  they 
require  more  than  their  own  weight  in  insects.  And 
the  young  birds  are  to  be  fed  just  at  the  season  that 
insects  do  the  most  injury  to  growing  crops  of  grain 
and  young  fruit  and  vegetables. 

Birds  vary  so  much  in  the  kind  of  food  eaten, 


BIRDS  241 

not  only  by  different  varieties  of  the  same  species, 
but  by  the  same  birds  at  different  seasons,  that  it 
is  necessary  to  make  a  careful  study  of  each  bird 
to  know  whether,  if  he  is  sometimes  caught  eating 
cultivated  fruit  and  grains,  he  helps  in  other  ways 
enough  to  pay  for  it. 

When  insects  are  unusually  abundant,  birds  eat 
more  than  at  other  times  and  confine  themselves 
more  strictly  to  an  insect  diet,  so  that  at  such 
times  the  good  they  do  is  particularly  valuable. 

Birds  of  prey  may  do  harm  in  a  particular  place, 
because  in  that  region  mice,  rabbits  and  other  nat- 
ural food  are  scarce,  and  they  are  driven  to  feed 
on  things  that  are  useful  to  man,  while  in  places 
where  their  natural  food  is  plentiful  the  same  birds 
are  altogether  helpful. 

In  the  same  way,  birds  which  naturally  eat  weed 
seeds  frequently  find  these  almost  altogether  lack-, 
ing  where  the  farms  are  most  carefully  cultivated, 
but  in  their  place  are  fields  of  grain  whose  seed  also 
furnishes  them  desirable  food.  Is  it  any  wonder, 
then,  that,  their  natural  food  being  taken  from 
them,  they  turn  to  the  cultivated  crops  ?  The  fruit 
eating  birds  seem  always  to  choose  the  wild  fruits, 
but  where  these  are  not  to  be  had  they  enter  the 
orchards  and  soon  become  known  as  enemies  of 
the  farmer. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  harm  done  by  birds 


242  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

leads  to  the  belief  that  the  damage  is  usually  caused 
by  a  very  large  number  of  one  species  of  birds  living 
in  a  small  area.  In  such  cases  so  great  is  the  demand 
for  food  of  a  particular  kind  that  the  supply  is  soon 
exhausted,  and  the  birds  turn  to  the  products  of 
the  field  or  orchard.  The  best  conditions  exist 
when  there  are  many  varieties  of  birds  in  a  region, 
but  no  one  variety  in  great  numbers,  for  then  they 
eat  many  kinds  of  insects  and  weeds,  and  do  not 
exhaust  all  the  food  supply  of  one  kind.  Under 
such  circumstances,  too,  the  insect-eating  birds 
would  find  plenty  of  insects  without  preying  on  use- 
ful products,  and  the  insects  would  be  held  in  check, 
so  that  the  damage  to  crops  would  be  slight. 

The  following  are  examples  of  the  food  eaten 
by  birds  and  the  good  that  they  thus  accomplish 
to  man : 

During  the  outbreak  of  Rocky  Mountain  locusts 
in  Nebraska,  a  scientific  observer  watched  a  long- 
billed  marsh  wren  carry  thirty  locusts  to  her  young 
in  an  hour  and  the  same  number  was  kept  up  regu- 
larly. At  this  rate,  for  seven  hours  a  day,  a  nest- 
ful  of  young  wrens  would  eat  two  hundred  and 
ten  locusts  a  day.  From  this  he  calculated  that  the 
birds  of  eastern  Nebraska  would  destroy  daily 
nearly  163,000  locusts. 

A  locust  eats  its  own  weight  in  grain  a  day.  The 
locusts  eaten  by  the  baby  birds  would  therefore  be 


BIRDS  243 

able  to  destroy  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  tons  of 
crops,  worth  at  least  ten  dollars  a  ton,  or  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

So  we  see  that  birds  have  an  actual  cash  value  on 
the  farm.  The  value  of  the  hay  crop  saved  by 
meadow-larks  in  destroying  grasshoppers  has  been 
estimated  at  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  dollars  on 
every  township  thirty-six  miles  square. 

An  article  contributed  to  the  New  York  Tribune 
by  an  official  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
estimated  the  amount  of  weed  seeds  annually  de- 
stroyed by  the  tree  sparrow  in  the  state  of  Iowa 
on  the  basis  of  one-fourth  of  an  ounce  of  seed 
eaten  daily  by  each  bird.  Supposing  there  were  ten 
birds  to  each  mile,  in  the  two  hundred  days  that 
they  remain  in  the  region,  we  should  have  a  total  of 
1,750,000  pounds,  or  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five 
tons,  of  weed  seed  consumed  in  a  single  season  by 
this  one  species  in  the  one  state.  In  a  thicket  near 
Washington,  D.  C.  was  a  large  patch  of  weeds 
where  sparrows  fed  during  the  winter.  The  ground 
was  literally  black  with  the  seeds  in  the  spring  but 
on  examining  them  it  was  found  that  nearly  all 
had  been  cracked  and  the  kernels  eaten.  A  search 
was  made  for  seeds  of  various  weeds  but  not  more 
than  half  a  dozen  could  be  found,  while  many  thou- 
sands of  empty  seed-pods  showed  how  the  birds 
had  lived  during  the  winter. 


244  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

In  no  place  are  birds  more  important  than 
in  the  forests,  where  they  save  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  worth  of  valuable  timber  each  year. 
In  forests  there  can  be  no  rotation  of  crops  and  no 
cultivation,  and  spraying,  which  keeps  down  the 
insect  pests  in  the  orchard,  is  impossible  here  because 
of  the  expense.  It  would  not  pay  to  spray  two 
or  three  times  a  year  a  crop  of  timber  that  requires 
a  lifetime  to  grow.  So  in  the  forests  the  owner 
must  depend  entirely  on  birds  for  his  protection. 
How  great  the  destruction  of  our  forests  would  be 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  damage  at  present  is 
estimated  at  $100,000,000,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
a  vast  army  of  birds  is  working  tirelessly,  summer 
and  winter,  to  devour  the  insects!  The  debt  of 
the  forester  to  the  birds  can  hardly  be  estimated. 

A  full  variety  of  birds  will  thoroughly  protect  a 
farm  and  orchard.  The  sparrows  will  destroy  the 
w'eed  seeds;  the  hawks  and  kites,  flying  by  day, 
will  catch  the  meadow  mice  and  other  small  mam- 
mals, and  the  owls  will  pounce  on  those  that  venture 
forth  at  night.  Of  the  insect-eating  birds,  the  larks, 
wrens,  thrushes  and  sparrows  search  the  ground 
for  worms,  eggs  and  insects  under  leaves  and  logs 
everywhere.  The  nuthatches,  vireos,  warblers  and 
creepers  search  every  part  of  the  tree,  while  the 
woodpeckers  tap  beneath  the  bark  for  grubs  and 
worms.     The  fly-catching  birds  catch  their  insect 


BIRDS  245 

food  on  the  wing  among  the  trees  and  branches,  and, 
last  of  all,  the  swallows  skim  high  in  the  air  and 
catch  the  few  insects  that  rise  high  above  the  tree- 
tops. 

Thus  each  family  has  its  part  of  the  work  and 
the  good  they  do  is  almost  too  great  to  calculate. 
Without  this  check  it  would  be  impossible  for  any 
green  thing  to  flourish.  So  vast  an  amount  of 
food  is  required  to  feed  the  great  army  of  insects 
that  the  task  would  be  impossible  in  any  other  way. 

A  brief  description  of  some  of  the  common  birds 
and  their  food  habits  is  given  here  that  farmers  may 
know  their  friends,  and  that  people  everywhere  may 
learn  to  protect  the  useful  birds  and  drive  out  the 
few  that  do  the  mischief. 

All  of  these  observations  have  been  made  by  field 
workers  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and 
no  statement  has  been  made  that  has  not  been  proved 
by  the  examination  of  many  bird  stomachs  at  dif- 
ferent seasons. 

Highest  of  all  in  the  list  come  the  bluebirds. 
They  are  among  the  most  beautiful  of  our  native 
birds,  with  their  bright  blue  coats  and  soft  red 
breasts.  They  are  sweet  singers,  and  are  among 
the  first  to  return  in  the  spring  to  tell  us  of  the  re- 
turn of  summer.  In  addition  to  this  they  have 
many  good  habits  and  absolutely  no  bad  ones. 
More  than  three-fourths  of  their  food  consists  of 


246  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

insects, —  beetles,  grasshoppers  and  caterpillars. 
The  remainder  is  weed  seeds  and  fruit,  but  there 
were  no  reports  of  cultivated  fruits  being  eaten  by 
bluebirds.  On  the  contrary  they  eat  the  most  un- 
desirable of  the  wild  fruit,  chokeberry,  pokeberry, 
Virginia  creeper,  bitter-sweet  and  sumac,  as  well 
as  large  quantities  of  ragweed  seeds.  Other  birds 
are  equally  useful  but  none  combines  usefulness 
with  so  much  beauty  and  sweetness  of  song. 

The  tiny  wrens  are  another  class  of  wholly  useful 
birds.  Their  food  consists  almost  entirely  of  in- 
sects with  a  very  little  grass-seed.  They  search 
every  tree,  shrub,  and  vine  for  caterpillars,  spiders 
and  grasshoppers. 

Sparrows  are  almost  equally  useful.  The  tree 
sparrow,  song  sparrow,  chipping  sparrow,  field 
sparrow  and  snowbird  or  junco  are  all  great  weed- 
seed  destroyers.  Many  of  them  remain  throughout 
the  winter,  when  they  feed  entirely  on  the  seeds  of 
weeds.  Each  bird  eats  at  least  a  quarter  of  an 
ounce  of  seeds  per  day,  and  they  are  often  found 
by  thousands  in  a  region.  At  least  a  half  dozen 
varieties  of  birds  are  feeding  in  the  same  ratio  all 
over  the  country,  reducing  the  crop  of  next  year's 
weeds.  During  the  summer  they  turn  to  a  diet 
composed  partly  of  insects  and  here  again  they 
help  the  farmer  by  eating  the  weevils,  leaf -beetles, 
grasshoppers,  bugs  and  wasps  that  infest  his  crops. 


BIRDS  247 

The  various  species  of  swallows  rank  high  as 
insect-eating  birds.  The  tree,  bank,  cliff  and  bam 
swallows  and  the  purple  martins  all  eat  small  beetles, 
mosquitoes,  flying  ants  and  other  high-flying  in- 
sects, and  the  number  destroyed  is  almost  beyond 
our  power  to  imagine. 

The  most  important  service  performed  by  swal- 
lows, however,  is  in  the  South,  where  they  migrate 
for  the  winter.  There  they  feed  largely  on  the 
cotton  boll-weevil,  one  of  the  most  destructive  of 
all  insects,  as  we  have  seen.  The  Department  of 
Agriculture  is  urging  strongly  that  farmers  in  the 
North  protect  the  swallows  so  that  they  may  winter 
in  the  South  in  large  numbers  to  feed  on  the  boll- 
weevil,  which,  if  allowed  to  flourish,  will  affect  not 
only  the  southern  planters,  but  every  user  of  cotton 
goods,  and  every  one  who  profits  in  any  way  by 
the  sale  and  manufacture  of  cotton  goods. 

Among  swallows,  the  beautiful  and  graceful  pur- 
ple martin  is  most  worthy  of  protection.  Both 
North  and  South,  the  swallows  are  among  the  most 
useful  of  all  birds  to  the  farmer  and  fruit  grower, 
and  should  be  protected  from  English  sparrows  and 
encouraged  in  every  possible  way. 

The  seventeen  species  of  titmice  which  inhabit 
the  United  States,  and  many  of  which  remain  all 
winter,  are  all  insect  eaters  to  a  great  extent,  eating 
large  quantities  of  tent-caterpillars,  moths  and  their 


248  CHECKING  THE  .WASTE 

eggs,  weevils,  including  the  cotton  boll-weevil,  plum- 
curculio,  ants,  spiders,  plant-lice,  bugs  and  beetles. 
They  also  eat  small  seeds,  particularly  those  of  the 
poison  ivy. 

The  bush-tit  feeds  largely  on  insects  that  de- 
stroy grape-vines  and  on  the  black  olive  scale. 
Other  species  eat  most  of  the  scales  which  infest 
fruit  and  forest  trees. 

The  rose-breasted  grosbeak,  while  it  eats  a  few 
green  peas,  is  to  be  classed  among  the  wholly  bene- 
ficial birds,  for  it  is  the  great  natural  destroyer  of 
the  Colorado  potato  beetle.  In  fact,  it  eats  enough 
potato-bugs  at  a  single  meal  to  pay  for  all  the  peas 
eaten  in  a  whole  season.  One  family  of  grosbeaks, 
nesting  near  the  field,  will  keep  an  entire  patch 
cleared  of  potato-bugs  throughout  the  season.  In 
some  parts  of  the  country  the  grosbeak  feeds  largely 
on  the  plum  scale,  the  hickory  scale,  the  locust  and 
oak  scales  and  on  the  tulip  scale,  which  is  very  de- 
structive to  shade  trees.  The  black  grosbeak  is 
another  variety  that  deserves  encouragement  in 
every  way,  for  it  eats  the  chrysalis  of  the  cod- 
ling-moth that  is  so  serious  a  foe  to  our  apple 
crop.  It  eats  also  many  other  injurious  insects, 
such  as  wire- worms,  many  of  the  most  harmful  of 
beetles,  caterpillars,  and  scales. 

Among  the  most  useful  birds,  we  must  mention 
the  phoebe,  which  nests  near  houses  and  lives  al- 


BIRDS  249 

most  entirely  on  harmful  insects  which  it  catches 
on  the  wing. 

Night  hawks  eat  flying  ants  in  great  numbers,  as 
many  as  eighteen  hundred  having  been  found  in  a 
single  stomach.  They  eat  insects  that  fly  by  night 
and  are  classed  among  our  most  useful  birds. 

Quails  are  almost  unequalled  as  weed-destroyers. 
Throughout  the  fall  and  winter  they  spend  the  time 
destroying  weed  seeds.  In  summer  they  eat  Colo- 
rado potato  beetles,  chinch-bugs,  cotton  boll-weevils, 
squash-beetles,  grasshoppers  and  cutworms.  The 
mother  quail,  with  her  family  of  twelve  to  twenty 
little  ones,  patrols  the  fields  thoroughly  for  insects. 
Quails  should  be  prized  as  among  a  farmer's  most 
valuable  helpers  and  protected  at  all  seasons. 

Similar  in  the  good  work  it  does  is  the  meadow- 
lark.  Grasshoppers,  caterpillars  and  cutworms 
form  a  large  part  of  its  diet,  and  its  vegetable  food 
consists  of  weed  seeds  or  waste  grain. 

King-birds  are  useful  in  protecting  poultry  and 
song  birds  from  hawks,  and  are  also  great  fly 
catchers,  taking  many  beetles  on  the  wing. 

Doves  eat  great  quantities  of  seeds  of  harmful 
weeds.  They  also  eat  some  grain,  but  almost  al- 
together after  the  crop  has  been  gathered.  Old 
damaged  corn  and  single  grains  scattered  along  the 
roads  are  eaten,  but  there  is  no  complaint  of  doves 
doing  injury  to  fields  of  growing  grain. 


250  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

The  orioles  are  beautiful,  are  sweet  singers,  and 
no  exception  can  be  taken  to  their  food  habits. 
Caterpillars  are  their  principal  article  of  food,  but 
plant-  and  bark-lice,  spiders  and  other  insects  are 
also  eaten.  Orioles  do  not  eat  much  vegetable  food. 
They  have  been  accused  of  eating  peas  and  grapes, 
but  there  seems  no  evidence  to  show  that  this  habit 
is  general. 

The  food  habits  of  cuckoos  render  them  very 
desirable,  since  they  eat  hairy  caterpillars,  particu- 
larly tent-caterpillars,  for  which  they  seem  to  have 
an  especial  fondness,  fall  web-worms  and  locusts, 
besides  other  injurious  insects,  but  they  are  accused 
of  bad  habits  in  relation  to  other  birds,  and  can 
therefore  hardly  be  classed  among  the  wholly  useful 
birds.  Warblers  and  vireos  are  among  the  most 
helpful  birds  in  an  orchard,  devouring  large  quan- 
tities of  insects. 

There  is  no  class  of  birds  concerning  which  it 
is  more  necessary  that  the  farmer  should  be  well 
informed,  than  the  hawks  and  owls,  since  some  of 
them  are  wholly  good,  and  of  the  greatest  possible 
benefit  to  him  and  the  fruit  grower,  while  others 
are  extremely  harmful  in  their  food  habits. 

The  harmful  varieties  live  almost  entirely  on 
poultry  and  wild  birds,  and  include  the  goshawk  or 
partridge  hawk  and  the  Cooper  hawk,  which  is  a 


BIRDS  251 

true  chicken-hawk  and  should  be  recognized  by  all 
farmers  at  sight. 

The  goshawk  and  chicken-hawk,  in  the  amount 
of  damage  done,  far  exceed  all  other  birds  of  prey. 
The  sharp-shinned  hawk  rarely  attacks  full-grown 
poultry,  but  preys  heavily  on  young  chickens  and 
song  birds.  In  fact,  it  is  known  to  eat  nearly  fifty 
species  of  our  most  useful  birds.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  these  birds  are  a  serious  pest  and  should 
be  destroyed,  but  they  should  not  be  confused  with 
other  members  of  the  family  which  are  among  the 
best  friends  that  a  farmer  has  in  keeping  his  farm 
clear  of  small  enemies. 

Owls  and  hawks  eat  the  same  class  of  food,  the 
hawks  flying  by  day  and  the  owls  by  night.  Owls 
remain  North  in  winter,  while  hawks  fly  farther 
south. 

The  small  species  of  both  eat  large  quantites  of 
insects,  such  as  grasshoppers,  locusts  and  beetles. 
The  larger  ones  are  the  farmer's  great  protection 
against  the  meadow-mouse,  the  most  destructive  of 
all  animals  to  farm  crops.  It  tunnels  under  fields 
and  eats  the  roots  of  grass,  grain  and  potatoes, 
eats  large  amounts  of  grain  and  does  even  more 
damage  by  girdling  young  trees  in  orchards.  Rab- 
bits injure  trees  in  the  same  way,  often  during  the 
winter  ruining  an  entire  orchard  in  this  manner. 


252  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

Squirrels,  ground-squirrels,  gophers,  prairie-dogs, 
and  other  small  animals  do  serious  damage  in  the 
course  of  a  year  on  almost  every  farm. 

The  rough-leg  hawk  feeds  entirely  on  meadow- 
mice,  but  if  the  supply  fails,  it  eats  mice,  rabbits 
and  ground-squirrels,  but  in  no  instance  attacks 
birds.  Its  cousin,  the  ferruginous  rough-leg,  lives 
largely  on  ground-squirrels,  rabbits,  prairie-dogs 
and  pouched  gophers.  This  species  also  never  at- 
tacks birds,  and  neither  do  any  of  the  four  mem- 
bers of  the  kite  family. 

Another  large  class  of  birds, —  the  marsh-hawk, 
Harris  hawk,  red-tailed  hawk,  red-shouldered  hawk, 
short-tailed  hawk,  white-tailed  hawk,  Swainson 
hawk,  short-winged  hawk,  broad-winged  hawk, 
Mexican  black  hawk,  Mexican  goshawk,  sparrow- 
hawk,  barn-owl,  long-eared  owl,  short-eared  owl, 
great  gray  owl,  barred  owl,  western  owl,  Richardson 
owl,  screech-owl,  snowy  owl,  hawk-owl,  burrowing 
owl,  pigmy  owl  and  elf  owl  —  live  mostly  on  de- 
structive mammals,  insects,  frogs  and  snakes,  but 
they  eat  some  birds  and  some  of  them  occasionally 
catch  poultry.  Young  ones  do  much  more  harm 
than  the  full-g^own  ones,  probably  because  they 
find  poultry  and  birds  easier  to  obtain  than  other 
food.  These  species  all  do  great  good  on  the  farm 
and  in  the  orchard  and  if  their  natural  food  is  plenti- 
ful and  the  number  of  the  birds  of  prey  limited,  they 


BIRDS  253 

should  be  allowed  to  remain,  even  though  they  oc- 
casionally do  harm;  but  they  can  not  be  allowed 
to  increase  greatly  in  a  region  without  becoming 
a  nuisance. 

In  another  class  the  golden  and  bald  eagles,  pigeon 
and  Richardson  hawks,  prairie  falcon  and  great 
horned  owl  do  considerable  harm,  and  the  good  and 
bad  qualities  about  balance.  In  a  poorly  settled 
region,  where  there  is  plenty  of  natural  food,  a  few 
of  these  birds  will  bring  forth  little  complaint,  but 
in  a  section  where  there  are  few  ground-squirrels, 
prairie-dogs,  gophers,  rabbits  and  woodchucks, 
where  poultry  is  raised  extensively,  and  useful  birds 
are  numerous  they  will  do  great  harm  and  farmers 
will  usually  want  to  keep  them  down  entirely. 

The  gyr falcons,  duck-hawks,  sharp-shinned  hawk, 
Cooper  hawk  and  goshawk  live  almost  entirely  on 
food  that  is  desired  by  man, —  poultry,  game  birds 
and  many  varieties  of  our  best  insect-destroying 
birds,  and  they  eat  almost  nothing  that  is  harmful 
to  man.  The  numbers  of  these  birds  should  be  re- 
duced as  much  as  possible:  but  in  general  it  may 
be  said  that  the  birds  of  prey  —  the  hawks  and  owls 
—  are  among  the  most,  if  not  the  most,  valuable 
birds  that  are  engaged  in  helping  the  farmer  by  de- 
stroying the  natural  enemies  of  agriculture. 

Among  the  smaller  birds  which  do  much  good, 
but  of  which  complaints  are  made  because  they  eat 


254  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

some  fruit  and  grain  are  the  woodpeckers,  includ- 
ing the  flickers,  cedar-birds,  robins,  cat-birds, 
thrashers,  crows  and  blackbirds. 

The  woodpeckers  are  the  great  natural  protec- 
tion of  the  forests  by  waging  constant  warfare  on 
the  wood-boring  insects  and  ants  beneath  the  bark 
where  no  other  birds  can  reach  them.  They  are 
equally  useful  in  an  orchard  except  that  here  man 
may  only  at  great  trouble  and  expense  partly  hold 
them  in  check.  Downy  woodpeckers  are  also  great 
eaters  of  scales,  and  the  fruit  grower  need  not  be- 
grudge the  red-headed  woodpecker  a  meal  of  cher- 
ries or  apples,  especially  as  it  will  usually  be  found 
that  it  is  the  wormy  fruit  that  is  attacked. 

The    flicker    or    gold-winged    woodpecker    lives 

..largely  on  ants,  of  which  he  eats  immense  quantities, 

seeking  them  not  only  in  the  trees  but  on  the  ground. 

Robins  are  so  well  loved  for  their  cheery  song, 
for  their  friendliness  to  man,  and  their  red  breasts 
coming  as  a  touch  of  color  in  returning  spring,  that 
except  where  they  are  present  in  great  numbers, 
there  is  little  complaint  of  the  fruit  they  eat,  even 
without  taking  into  account  the  good  work  they  ac- 
complish as  insect  eaters.  In  fact  only  four  per 
cent,  of  a  robin's  food  is  cultivated  and  a  little  less 
than  half  of  it  is  wild  fruit  not  prized  by  man. 
The  remaining  half  consists  of  caterpillars,  beetles, 
spiders,  snails  and  earth-worms. 


BIRDS  255 

The  cat-bird  is  also  known  as  a  cherry-eater  and 
he  frequently  helps  himself  from  strawberry  and 
raspberry  patches.  He  eats  a  larger  proportion  of 
cultivated  fruit  than  the  robin,  but  about  twice  as 
much  wild  fruit,  including  the  sumac  and  poison  ivy. 
The  cat-bird  eats  many  injurious  insects,  which 
constitute  only  a  little  less  than  half  of  his  food. 

The  cedar-bird  is  sometimes  called  the  cherry 
bird,  and  is  accused  of  being  a  great  cherry-stealer, 
but  an  examination  of  stomachs  showed  that  only 
nine  birds  out  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  had 
eaten  any  cherries  and  that  cherries  formed  only 
five  per  cent,  of  the  food  of  these  few.  There  is 
even  evidence  that  this  bird  prefers  wild  fruits, 
which  form  its  principal  food  though  it  eats  a  few 
insects. 

The  crows  and  blackbirds  are  accused  of  many 
bad  habits,  such  as  pulling  up  young  corn,  destroying 
large  quantities  of  grain  and  injuring  much  fruit 
by  pecking  holes  in  it  which  are  later  entered  by 
insects.  Crows  eat  fruit  to  some  extent,  but  the 
greater  part  of  it  is  wild.  Both  crows  and  black- 
birds are  accused  of  robbing  the  nests  of  other  birds. 
Blackbirds  are  injurious  chiefly  because  they  gather 
in  such  large  flocks  that  when  they  descend  on  a 
field  they  can  eat  a  large  amount  of  grain  in  a  short 
space  of  time.  The  greatest  good  accomplished  by 
the  blackbird  is  in  the  spring  when  it  follows  the 


256  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

plow  in  search  of  grubworms,  of  which  it  is  ex- 
tremely fond.  It  also  does  much  good  in  destroy- 
ing insects  in  the  early  summer,  the  young  birds 
being  fed  ahnost  entirely  on  insect  food  until  they 
are  grown. 

Of  the  crow,  Doctor  Merriam,  who  is  at  the  head 
of  this  branch  of  work  in  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, says,  "  Instead  of  being  an  enemy  of  the 
farmer,  as  is  generally  believed,  the  crow  is  one  of 
his  best  friends  and  the  protector  of  his  crops. 
True,  during  corn-planting  time,  the  crow's  bill  is 
turned  against  the  farmer  during  one  month,  and 
one  month  only  is  he  his  enemy.  But  during  the 
other  eleven  months  the  crow  is  really  working 
overtime  for  him.  It  eats  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  destructive  insects  and  bugs  every  week, 
and  when  it  comes  to  feeding  its  young,  gives  them 
a  diet  composed  almost  entirely  of  worms  and  in- 
sects that  prey  upon  the  crops." 

Another  government  report  says,  "  The  crow 
should  receive  much  credit  for  the  insects  which  it 
destroys.  In  the  more  thickly  settled  parts  of  the 
country  it  probably  does  more  good  than  harm,  at 
least  when  ordinary  precautions  are  taken  to  pro- 
tect young  poultry  and  newly  planted  corn  from 
it."  It  is  probable  that  in  many  parts  of  the  coun- 
try some  farmers  will  find  it  desirable  to  reduce  the 
number  of  crows  and  blackbirds  on  their  farms. 


BIRDS  257 

The  brown  thrasher  is  a  beautiful  singer  and  eats 
many  insects,  mostly  injurious.  It  eats  some  culti- 
vated fruits.  It  also  eats  a  small  amount  of  newly 
planted  corn,  but  at  the  same  time  clears  the  field 
of  May  beetles.  Altogether  it  is  a  useful  bird  but 
not  one  of  the  highest  benefit. 

There  are  a  few  species  of  birds  of  which  but  little 
good  can  be  said,  and  which  it  may  be  desirable  to 
attempt  to  drive  out  in  many  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Chief  of  these  is  the  English  sparrow.  It 
is  of  a  quarrelsome  disposition  and  is  much  given 
to  driving  other  birds  from  their  nests.  In  some 
districts  it  has  completely  expelled  some  of  the  most 
useful  kinds  of  birds.  It  exists  everywhere  in  such 
numbers  as  to  render  it  a  nuisance,  and  it  may  be  said 
to  be  the  greatest  pest  among  American  birds.  Its 
favorite  food  is  dandelion  seeds,  and  it  destroys 
many  thousands  of  seeds,  but  as  the  dandelion  does 
no  real  injury  this  habit  does  not  offset  all  the  harm 
done.  It  also  eats  other  weed  seeds  but  the  great- 
est thing  to  be  said  in  its  favor  is  that  it  feeds  on 
the  cottony  maple  scale.  It  is  probable  that  in 
small  numbers  the  English  sparrow  might  be  classed 
among  the  useful,  or,  at  least,  one  of  the  only  partly 
harmful  birds,  but  there  is  no  bird  whose  numbers 
it  is  more  desirable  to  reduce. 

The  common  blue- jay  is  accused  of  some  very 
bad  habits,  among  them  eating  the  eggs  and  young 


258  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

of  small  birds.  It  is  a  fruit  eater  and  also  a  grain 
eater  and  frequently  robs  corn-cribs  and  injures 
newly  planted  fields.  However,  it  eats  some  insects, 
mice  and  other  small  enemies  of  the  farmer  and  as 
it  is  nowhere  very  plentiful,  and  does  not  live  in 
flocks,  there  is  not  much  cause  for  complaint. 
However,  its  cousin,  the  California  jay,  has  an  ex- 
tremely bad  record.  It  is  a  great  fruit  eater,  and 
devastates  prune,  apricot,  and  cherry  orchards.  It 
is  a  serious  robber  of  the  nests  of  small  birds  and 
hens,  and  though  it  eats  some  grasshoppers  and 
a  very  few  weed  seeds,  it  is  thoroughly  disliked  by 
western  fruit  growers.  It  should  be  greatly  re- 
duced in  numbers.  Another  California  bird  that 
has  gained  a  bad  reputation  is  the  house  finch  or 
linnet.  It  does  serious  harm  in  the  cherry  and 
apricot  orchards,  not  so  much  by  eating  as  by  peck- 
ing at  the  fruit.  It  probably  pecks,  and  thus  de- 
stroys, five  times  as  much  fruit  as  it  eats.  As  the 
bird  is  very  abundant,  it  sometimes  causes  the  loss 
of  almost  the  entire  crop  of  a  small  fruit  grower. 
It  does  not  deserve  protection,  for  it  eats  the  buds 
and  blossoms  of  fruit  trees  and  does  little  to  com- 
pensate for  all  the  harm  done.  Its  best  habit  is' 
eating  woolly  plant-lice. 

No  article  on  birds  would  be  complete  that  does 
not  dwell  on  the  enormous  destruction  of  birds  for 
trimming  hats.     As  one  writer  puts  it,  we  pay  eight 


BIRDS  259 

hundred  million  dollars  a  year  for  hat  trimmings, 
assuming  the  insect  ravages  to  be  due  to  the  killing 
of  our  birds  for  millinery  purposes.  While  this  is 
exaggerated,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  this  is  the 
largest  cause  of  the  destruction  of  the  birds  of 
America. 

The  Audubon  society  says  that  we,  as  a  nation, 
use  150,000,000  birds  a  year  for  trimming  hats 
alone  and  that  this  single  item  would  save  our  crops 
from  insect  destruction  and  largely  rid  our  fields 
of  weeds. 

If  a  few  hundred  dollars  are  stolen  from  a  bank, 
the  greatest  efforts  are  made  to  catch  the  thief,  and 
if  possible  to  get  the  money  back;  but  the  great 
army  of  insects  destroy  each  year,  almost  as  much 
in  money  value  as  all  the  national  banks  in  the  coun- 
try have  on  deposit,  and  this  wholesale  destruction 
might  largely  be  prevented  if  every  woman  and 
girl  took  (and  kept)  a  pledge  not  to  use  wings, 
breasts,  or  birds  on  her  hats.  There  is  no  objection 
to  the  use  of  ostrich  feathers,  which  are  carefully 
plucked  from  the  live  birds.  The  feathers  grow 
again,  just  as  the  wool  grows  on  sheep  that  have 
been  sheared.  Neither  is  there  any  objection  to 
using  the  feathers  of  the  barn-yard  fowls  which  are 
killed  for  food. 

Only  a  little  less  is  the  loss  caused  by  so-called 
"  sportsmen,"  men  who  kill  only  for  the  pleasure 


26o  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

of  shooting,  or  who,  because  they  like  the  taste  of 
quail,  shoot  as  many  as  they  can  in  a  day  instead 
of  only  enough  to  satisfy  hunger.  Often  a  farmer 
sells  for  a  very  small  amount  the  privilege  of  hunt- 
ing on  his  farm,  thinking  he  is  making  money  when 
in  fact  he  is  losing  ten  dollars  for  every  one  he 
makes. 

The  quail,  sparrows  and  other  birds  on  the  farm 
are  destroyed.  As  a  result  the  weed  seeds  are  not 
eaten  and  a  big  crop  comes  up  in  the  spring.  In 
the  summer  there  are  no  quail  on  the  farm  to  de- 
stroy insects.  The  insects  and  the  weeds  together 
make  the  crop  poorer,  and  the  owner  feels  that 
farming  is  growing  less  profitable,  when  in  fact  he 
has  failed  to  take  ordinary  precautions  to  obtain 
a  good  crop  by  protecting  the  birds. 

With  the  huntsman  and  his  bag  of  birds  we  may 
class  the  small  boy  with  his  rifle  or  sling-shot.  A 
single  boy  does  little  harm  but  all  the  boys  in  the 
country  taken  together  do  a  grave  amount  of  dam- 
age. 

Last  in  the  list  comes  the  egg  hunters,  who  by 
robbing  nests  can  kill  four  or  five  birds  at  a  time, 
simply  for  mischief.  A  party  of  boys  can,  by  a 
day's  sport,  make  a  serious  difference  in  the  number 
of  birds  in  a  region  where  they  are  not  plentiful 
and  thus  have  a  large  share  in  damaging  the  crops. 

If,  then,  birds  play  so  large  a  part  in  the  welfare 


BIRDS  261 

of  the  farm  and  in  turn  in  the  prices  of  farm  crops, 
fruit,  lumber  and  cotton  cloth,  it  is  most  desirable 
that  every  effort  be  made  to  reduce  the  numbers  of 
harmful  birds  and  to  encourage  the  useful  species. 

Many  of  the  states  now  have  excellent  laws  for 
the  protection  of  birds;  but  without  a  large  number 
of  game  wardens,  it  is  difficult  to  enforce  the  laws 
closely  unless  the  public  sentiment  is  strongly  against 
the  killing  of  birds.  Laws  should  be  made  to  pro- 
tect birds  against  the  egg  hunter,  (except  for  the 
purpose  of  study,  and  then  a  license  should  be  re- 
quired), sling-shots  should  be  prohibited,  as  they 
already  are  in  many  places.  All  hunters  should  be 
required  to  have  a  license,  the  number  of  birds  killed 
by  a  single  person  in  a  single  day  should  be  limited, 
and  certain  birds  should  always  be  protected  by 
law.  These  laws  should  be  as  nearly  uniform  as 
possible  in  all  the  states  and  there  must  be  a  desire 
on  the  part  of  all  the  people  to  see  these  laws  obeyed. 

The  boys  and  girls  should  be  banded  together  in 
the  schools  or  in  societies  and  pledged  to  protect 
birds  and  not  to  destroy  them.  The  girls  should 
pledge  themselves  not  to  wear  birds  for  ornament. 

Women's  clubs  might  do  much  to  popularize  the 
movement  for  the  protection  of  birds,  and  to  that 
end  should  try  to  establish  a  sentiment  among  their 
members  against  their  use  for  millinery. 

All  these  agencies  working  together  will  make 


262  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

a  vast  difference  in  the  number  of  birds,  and  as  a 
result,  in  the  good  that  they  do,  but  the  great  work 
must  be  done  by  farmers  themselves.  They  will 
need  to  protect  themselves  in  certain  ways  against 
the  harm  done  by  many  of  the  birds  that  on  the 
whole  are  extremely  useful. 

To  protect  poultry  from  owls  do  not  allow  it  to 
roost  in  the  trees;  to  protect  from  hawks,  keep  the 
young  ones  near  the  house,  and  if  possible  cover 
their  runways  with  wire  netting. 

To  protect  against  grain  eating,  use  scarecrows 
or  put  up  a  dead  crow  as  a  warning.  Mixing  seed 
corn  with  tar  so  as  to  coat  it  will  prevent  crows 
from  pulling  it  up  at  planting  time. 

To  protect  against  fruit  eating,  plant  wild  fruits. 
The  best  of  all  trees  for  this  purpose  is  the  Russian 
mulberry,  which  ripens  at  the  same  time  that  cherries 
do  and  is  particularly  relished  by  all  fruit-eating 
birds.  If  planted  in  barn-lots,  chickens  and  hogs 
will  eat  all  the  fruit  that  falls  to  the  ground,  making 
it  serve  a  double  purpose.  The  fruit  of  wild  cherry, 
elder,  dogwood,  haws,  and  mountain-ash  are  eaten 
by  birds,  and  if  a  farm  be  planted  with  such  trees 
and  bushes  in  the  barn-yard,  along  the  lanes  or  in 
some  of  those  unproductive  spots  that  are  to  be 
found  on  every  farm,  birds  will  be  attracted  to  the 
farm  and  will  pay  well  for  themselves,  and  the 
farmer's  crop  of  cultivated  fruit  will  be  protected. 


BIRDS  263 

Birds  themselves  distribute  many  seeds,  particularly 
of  wild  fruits. 

The  farmer  who  keeps  several  cats  must  pay  for 
it  in  the  loss  of  birds,  for  birds  will  not  nest  where 
they  are  constantly  watched  by  cats.  Boxes  for 
martins  and  other  birds,  bits  of  hay,  horse-hair  and 
string  scattered  about  will  often  encourage  birds  to 
build  about  an  orchard  or  farm.  A  wood-lot,  be- 
sides paying  in  other  ways,  will  afford  nesting 
places  for  a  large  number  of  birds.  To  place  a 
drinking  and  bathing  place  near  the  house  is  one  of 
the  best  methods  of  attracting  birds,  which  will  use 
it  constantly. 

By  all  these  methods  and  a  little  winter  feeding 
with  crumbs,  apple  peelings  or  waste  fruit  and  grain, 
the  farmer  will  be  able  to  induce  a  good  variety  of 
birds  to  nest  on  his  farm.,  and  will  receive  in  re- 
turn great  protection  from  the  small  mammals,  in- 
sects and  weeds  that  would  lessen  the  amount  of  his 
harvests. 

REFERENCES 

Relation  Between  Birds  and  Insects.    Yearbook  486. 
Annual  Reports  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
Annual  Reports  of  the  National  Audubon  Society. 
Bird  Day.     How  to  Prepare  For  It.     C.  C  Babcock. 
Bird  Neighbors.    John  Burroughs. 
Bird  enemies.     John  Burroughs. 
How  to  Attract  the  Birds.    N.  B.  Doubleday. 
The  Food  of  Nestling  Birds.    Yearbook  1900. 


264  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

Does  It  Pay  the  Farmer  to  Protect  Birds?    Yearbook  1907. 

Birds  as  Weed  Destroyers.    Yearbook  1898. 

How  Birds  Affect  the  Orchard.    Yearbook  1900. 

Value  of  Swallows  as  Insect  Destroyers.  Yearbook  Re- 
print. 

Birds  That  Eat  Scale  Insects.    Yearbook  Reprint. 

Birds  Useful  for  the  Destruction  of  the  Cotton  Boll- Weevil. 
Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bulletins  57,  64. 

Hawks  and  Owls  From  the  Standpoint  of  the  Farmer. 
Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bulletin  61. 

Some  Common  Birds  in  Their  Relation  to  Agriculture. 
Dept.  of  Agriculture  Bulletin  54, 

Four  Common  Birds  of  the  Farm  and  Garden.  Yearbook 
1895. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HEALTH 

When  we  have  improved  our  soil  and  replanted 
our  forests  and  learned  the  most  economical  methods 
of  mining  our  great  deposits  of  coal,  iron,  and  other 
minerals;  when  we  have  made  the  waters  do  our 
work  and  carry  our  freight  and  water  our  waste 
places;  when  we  have  learned  to  care  for  our  birds 
and  our  fishes,  and  taken  measures  to  stop  the 
ravages  of  insects;  when  we  have  preserved  our 
natural  beauties  and  increased  them  by  planting 
trees,  shrubs,  and  flowers,  and  filling  unsightly 
corners;  there  still  remains  to  be  considered  the 
greatest  subject  of  all, —  the  people  who  are  to 
enjoy  this  wonderful  inheritance.  If  they  were  to 
be  weak  and  sick,  suffering  from  all  kinds  of  dis- 
eases, dying  in  great  numbers,  all  these  things  would 
count  for  little.  But  men  and  women,  as  they  are 
learning  how  to  conserve  their  natural  resources, 
are  thinking  far  more  than  ever  before  of  health 
and  how  to  keep  it.  It  is  necessary  to  think  of 
these  things,  for  as  people  crowd  into  cities,  where 
they  live  a  life  different  from  that  which  nature 

265 


266  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

intended,  sickness  and  the  death-rate  increase 
greatly. 

Health,  by  which  we  mean  the  possession  of  a 
strong,  well  body,  free  from  pain,  should  bring  with 
it  great  power  to  work  and  to  think  and  to  benefit 
the  world;  and  should  also  bring  great  happiness 
and  enjoyment  to  the  person  who  possesses  it,  for 
though  sick  people  may  be  happy,  and  well  people 
unhappy,  yet  it  is  a  general  rule  that  to  be  strong 
and  well  is  the  first  great  step  toward  being  happy. 

The  question,  "Is  life  worth  living?"  was  once 
happily  answered,  "  It  depends  upon  the  liver ;  " 
and  it  is  true  in  both  senses,  for  not  only  does 
happiness  depend  on  what  one  gets  out  of  life,  but 
on  good  digestion.  It  is  only  the  person  who  feels 
well  who  really  enjoys  life. 

The  person  who  can  get  up  each  morning  able  to 
do  a  day's  work  or  have  a  day's  enjoyment,  is  the 
one  on  whom  we  must  depend  for  the  world's  work 
and  invention.  We  seldom  find  a  strong,  vigor- 
ous mind  in  a  weak  body. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  invalid  is  the  idle  member 
of  the  family  or  the  community.  He  can  not  find 
pleasure  for  himself  nor  do  anything  to  help  others, 
and  not  only  that,  but  he  must  be  cared  for  by 
others,  thus  taking  the  labor  of  the  sick  person  him- 
self and  of  his  nurse.  It  is  coming  to  be  seen  that 
this  is  a  great  waste  of  time,  of  money,  of  work, 


HEALTH  267 

and  of  happiness,  and  people  are  determining  that 
if  these  wastes  can  be  stopped,  it  is  well  worth  all 
the  time  and  thought  and  money  necessary  to  bring 
about  the  change. 

People  everywhere  are  thinking  about  health,  and 
because  of  this.  Christian  Science,  the  Emmanuel 
Movement  and  the  various  sects  which  practise 
faith  or  mental  healing  have  sprung  up. 

Hospitals  and  health  officers  are  doing  much  for 
the  public  health.  Doctors  themselves  are  chang- 
ing their  ideas  and  are  teaching  us  not  only  how 
to  cure  but  how  to  prevent  disease. 

Doctors  are  also  seeking  not  only  to  prevent  dis- 
ease but  to  find  new  ways  of  treating  it.  They  are 
discarding  drugs  in  as  many  cases  as  possible,  fre- 
quently using  serums  in  which  cultures  from  the  dis- 
ease itself  are  used  for  its  cure. 

Health  means  more  ability  to  work,  more 
means  of  learning,  of  accomplishing  great  things, 
more  pleasures  in  every  day  that  is  lived;  and  so 
it  is  as  important  to  preserve  health,  in  order  to 
enjoy  life,  as  it  is  to  prevent  death.  We  can  real- 
ize how  few  persons  have  perfect  health  by  noting 
the  common  salutation  "  How  do  you  do  ? "  or 
"  How  are  you  ?  " 

Serious  sickness  is  such  as  renders  a  person  en- 
tirely unable  to  work.  Benefit  societies  have  found 
that  the  average  number  of  days  of  sickness  per 


268  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

year  from  each  person  under  seventy  years  of  age 
is  ten,  of  which  at  least  two  are  spent  in  bed. 

About  a  million  and  a  half  people  die  each  year 
in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  estimated  that  twice 
that  number,  or  three  million  persons,  are  constantly 
unable  even  to  care  for  themselves.  The  effect  of 
this  is  felt  on  the  patient  himself,  in  suffering,  in 
loss  of  time  in  which  he  is  unable  to  earn  money, 
and  in  the  amount  spent  for  doctors,  medicine,  and 
nursing.  It  is  felt  on  the  family,  in  which  the 
household  machinery  is  thrown  out  while  the  wife 
and  mother  nurses  the  sick  members  of  the  family, 
or  is  herself  too  ill  to  work,  or  when  the  father's 
income  stops  on  account  of  sickness. 

The  entire  community  suffers  from  the  constant 
idleness  of  three  million  persons,  as  well  as  from  the 
deaths  which  withdraw  a  still  larger  number  of 
persons  from  actual  work  for  a  period  of  two  to 
five  days  during  the  time  of  death  and  burial  of  the 
bodies  of  members  of  the  family. 

Then  there  is  all  the  long  train  of  small  ailments, 
which  do  not  make  us  seriously  ill,  often  do  not  even 
keep  us  from  work,  but  which  do  take  away  from 
the  pleasure  and  enjoyment  of  life,  which  render 
work  a  burden  instead  of  a  delight,  and  lessen  our 
ability  to  work  by  many  degrees. 

Not  only  this,  but  they  all  have  within  them  the 
possibility    of    developing    into    serious    diseases. 


HEALTH  269 

Such  lesser  troubles  are  colds,  headache,  catarrh, 
dyspepsia,  nervousness,  neuralgia,  sore  throat,  skin 
eruptions,  rheumatism,  toothache,  earache,  affec- 
tions of  the  eyes,  lameness,  sprains,  bruises,  cuts, 
and  burns. 

Civilization  has  brought  us  great  blessings  but  it 
has  also  brought  with  it  many  dangers  to  health. 
Professor  Irving  Fisher  of  Yale  says : 

"  The  invention  of  houses  has  made  it  possible 
for  mankind  to  spread  all  over  the  globe  but  it  is 
responsible  for  tuberculosis  or  consumption.  The 
invention  of  cooking  has  widened  the  variety  of 
man's  diet  but  has  led  to  the  decay  of  his  teeth. 
The  invention  of  the  alphabet  and  printing  has  pro- 
duced eye  strain  with  all  its  attendant  evils.  The 
invention  of  chairs  has  led  to  spinal  curvature,  etc., 
etc.  Yet  it  would  be  foolish  even  if  it  were  possible 
to  attempt  to  return  to  nature  in  the  sense  of  abolish- 
ing civilization. 

"  The  cure  for  eye  strain  is  not  in  disregarding  the 
invention  of  reading,  but  in  introducing  the  inven- 
tion of  glasses.  The  cure  for  tuberculosis  is  not  in 
the  destruction  of  houses  but  in  ventilation.  It  is  a 
little  knowledge  that  is  dangerous.  Civilization  can, 
with  fuller  knowledge,  bring  its  own  cure,  and  make 
the  '  kingdom  of  man  '  far  larger  than  the  *  nature  ' 
people  can  ever  dream  of." 

Until  within  the  last  few  years,  sickness  and  death 


270  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

were  regarded  from  a  religious  standpoint.  All  sick- 
ness was  to  be  borne  with  patience  and  resignation 
because  all  our  sufferings  were  sent  by  an  all-wise 
Providence.  But  since  science  has  clearly  proved 
that  typhoid  fever  is  usually  caused  by  an  impure 
water  supply,  and  that  boiling  the  water  would  pre- 
vent the  suffering,  expense  and  possible  death;  that 
the  dreaded  yellow  fever  can  be  banished  from  com- 
munities that  destroy  the  eggs  of  certain  mosqui- 
toes ;  and  many  other  facts  in  regard  to  health  have 
been  learned,  a  great  change  has  come  over  the  pop- 
ular belief.  It  is  seen  that,  to  a  great  extent,  man 
holds  his  own  fate  and  is  responsible  for  his  own 
suffering,  and  people  are  eager  to  learn  more  about 
their  own  bodies,  how  to  cure  them  and  how  to  keep 
them  well. 

This  knowledge  has  already  done  much  to  prolong 
life.  The  average  length  of  life  in  India,  where  no 
attempt  is  made  to  check  disease,  is  twenty-five 
years.  In  England  the  length  of  life  has  doubled  in 
a  few  generations.  In  Sweden,  where  the  people 
live  a  sanitary  life,  the  average  is  over  fifty  years, 
in  this  country,  forty-five  years. 

Insurance  companies  and  benefit  societies  keep 
close  watch  of  their  members  and  they  report  that 
a  person  ten  years  old  may  now  count  on  living  to 
be  sixty  years  of  age.  That  is  the  average  age, 
whereas  a  hundred  years  ago  the  average  expecta- 


HEALTH  271 

tion  of  life  at  that  age  was  only  fifty-three 
years. 

And  this  is  true  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  people 
have  been  crowding  into  cities,  that  they  are  living 
on  richer  foods,  taking  less  exercise  in  the  open  air, 
living  in  houses  which  shut  out  the  fresh  air,  and 
doing  dozens  of  other  things  that  have  tended  to 
lower  rather  than  to  raise  the  average. 

We  can  scarcely  realize  the  possibilities  of  life 
if,  with  all  the  present  scientific  knowledge  of  dis- 
ease and  health,  we  could  have  a  generation  of 
people  living  according  to  nature's  laws. 

Life  can  be  not  only  lengthened  but  strengthened. 
There  are  many  instances  of  frail,  feeble  children 
who  have  developed  into  exceptionally  strong  men 
and  women.  One  of  the  most  noted  is  Von  Hum- 
boldt, the  great  scientist,  who  as  a  child  was  very 
weak  physically,  and,  he  himself  says,  was  mentally 
below  the  average,  but  who  lived  to  the  age  of 
ninety,  and  developed  one  of  the  greatest  minds  of 
his  century. 

Doctor  Horace  Fletcher,  noted  for  his  theories  in 
regard  to  eating,  was  rejected  at  the  age  of  forty- 
six  for  life  insurance  but  so  strengthened  his  con- 
stitution by  careful  living  that  by  the  time  he  was 
fifty  he  not  only  obtained  his  life  insurance  but  cele- 
brated his  birthday  by  riding  one  hundred  and  ninety 
miles  on  his  bicycle. 


2y2  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

If  we  could  imagine  a  person  who  all  his  life  had 
lived  in  a  locality  where  the  air  was  pure;  in  a 
house  where  fresh  air  entered  day  and  night,  and 
which  was  heated  to  a  uniform  temperature ;  whose 
food  had  always  consisted  of  the  most  pure  and  nu- 
tritious material  prepared  in  the  most  wholesome 
way,  eaten  slowly  and  in  proper  quantity ;  if  bathing, 
sleep,  rest,  exercise,  brain  work  and  pleasure  had 
each  its  due  proportion;  if  he  could  be  always 
guarded  from  contagion  and  accidents,  we  can  im- 
agine that  such  a  person  would  be  free  from  dis- 
ease and  that  death  might  be  long  deferred.  Of 
course,  death  can  not  be  prevented,  only  postponed, 
but  disease  can  be  prevented,  and  so  we  can  increase 
the  chances  of  postponing  death.  Doctors  tell  us 
that  under  ideal  conditions  there  would  be  only  one 
cause  of  death  —  old  age. 

There  is  no  question  that  under  such  conditions 
life  could  be  prolonged  far  beyond  what  is  now 
usually  considered  its  span.  One  hundred  years  or 
more  might  easily,  we  imagine,  become  the  average 
of  life,  instead  of  the  great  exception. 

We  can  hope  for  these  things  in  the  future  though 
it  will  take  several  generations  at  least  to  bring  them 
all  about,  but  we  need  not  wait  so  long  for  some 
of  the  best  results.  There  are  many  things  that  can 
be  done  at  once  to  prolong  life  and  prevent  illness. 
Since  we  know  that  many  diseases  are  preventable 


HEALTH  273 

and  we  know  the  suffering  and  sorrow,  as  well  as 
expense,  that  come  from  sickness  and  premature 
death,  we  should  all  eagerly  unite  in  doing  all  that 
we  can  to  stop  these  ravages. 

There  are  two  agencies  that  will  help  to  bring 
this  about :  individual  or  private  means,  and  general 
or  public  means.  Both  are  absolutely  necessary  if 
we  are  to  be  successful  in  stamping  out  disease. 
Professor  Fisher  says :  "  Personal  hygiene  means 
the  strengthening  of  our  defenses  against  disease. 
Public  hygiene  seeks  to  destroy  the  germs  before 
they  reach  our  bodily  defenses." 

In  the  first  place,  in  order  to  learn  what  we  may 
do  to  lengthen  the  span  of  life  we  must  learn  some- 
thing of  the  nature  of  disease.  Doctors  tell  us  that 
diseases  are  of  two  classes.  The  first  are  hereditary, 
or  inherited ;  those  which  pass  from  parents  to  their 
children  and  often  run  through  an  entire  family. 
It  is  more  often  the  tendency  to  disease  that  is  in- 
herited, rather  than  the  disease  itself,  and  so  even 
these  inherited  diseases  may  often  be  prevented  by 
careful  living. 

Diseases  which  may  be  inherited  include  rheuma- 
tism, gout,  scrofula,  diabetes,  cancer  and  insanity. 
This  class  of  diseases  is  the  most  difficult  to  prevent 
and  to  cure.  For  some  of  them  no  cure  has  been 
found. 

The  other  class  comprises  the  diseases  of  environ- 


274  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

merit,  or  personal  surroundings, —  that  is,  our  man- 
ner of  living  both  as  regards  our  private  life  and  our 
relations  to  other  people.  These  diseases  are  largely 
preventable  and  it  is  with  them  that  most  of  the  work 
of  prevention  is  to  be  carried  on. 

A  disease  is  considered  preventable  if,  by  using 
the  best  known  means  of  treatment,  it  might  be 
prevented  or  cured,  so  that  either  the  disease  or 
the  death  usually  resulting  from  it  would  be 
avoided. 

Of  course,  not  all  deaths  from  a  given  disease 
could  be  prevented  even  with  the  best  known  means. 
Infant  diseases  constitute  one  class  which  is  con- 
sidered most  hopeful  of  betterment  through  a  pure 
milk  supply  and  better  hygiene;  and  yet  many  au- 
thorities believe  that  not  more  than  half  the  deaths 
could  be  prevented  owing  to  the  large  part  played 
by  weather  conditions,  feeble  constitutions,  and 
other  unchangeable  conditions. 

Preventable  diseases  may  be  divided  into  six 
classes : 

(i)  Diseases  caused  by  lack  of  proper  hygiene. 

(2)  Diseases  caused  by  bad  habits. 

(3)  Contagious  diseases. 

(4)  Diseases  caused  by  insects. 

(5)  Accidents,  wounds,  or  operations  and  their 
resulting  diseases. 

(6)  Diseases  remedied  by  slight  means. 


HEALTH  275 

We  will  treat  each  of  these  in  turn. 

( I )  By  proper  hygiene  is  meant  the  proper  treat- 
ment of  the  body  as  to  breathing,  eating,  drinking, 
sleeping,  bathing  and  rest.  This  treatment  includes 
plenty  of  fresh  air,  both  day  and  night,  keeping  out- 
doors as  much  as  possible,  and  in  well-aired  houses 
the  rest  of  the  time.  Vigorous  but  not  violent  exer- 
cise, brisk  walking,  regular  physical  exercise,  such 
as  is  practised  in  gymnasiums,  will  go  far  toward 
keeping  the  body  in  good  condition. 

The  question  of  fresh  air  in  the  home  is  one  of 
the  most  important  points  to  be  considered.  The 
bedrooms,  the  living-rooms,  and  the  kitchen  should 
have  the  air  changed  constantly,  not  once  or  twice 
a  day.  In  order  to  prevent  drafts,  and  that  the 
house  may  not  be  kept  at  too  low  a  temperature  in 
winter,  a  board,  eight  to  twelve  inches  in  height, 
may  be  placed  across  the  bottom  of  a  window  that 
is  raised. 

Many  diseases,  not  only  of  the  throat  and  lungs, 
but  of  the  other  organs,  may  be  prevented  by  the 
constant  introduction  of  fresh  air  into  our  rooms 
day  and  night. 

Tuberculosis  causes  more  deaths  than  any  other 
single  disease  in  America,  and  the  sickness  and  dis- 
ability continue  longer  than  with  most  diseases.  It 
is  extremely  contagious,  being  a  germ  disease,  and 
not  an  inherited  one,  as  was   formerly  supposed. 


276  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

It  increased  very  rapidly  for  a  few  years  but  is  now 
slightly  decreasing,  owing  to  better  knowledge  of 
its  cause  and  cure. 

Its  prevention  and  its  cure  both  lie  largely  in 
fresh  air.  Physicians  say  that  no  one  who  lives 
an  open-air  life  with  plenty  of  fresh  air  night  and 
day  will  contract  it.  The  cure  which  is  restoring 
hundreds  to  health  is  to  find  a  place  where  the  air 
is  pure,  and  live  and  sleep  practically  outdoors; 
to  eat  as  much  milk,  raw  eggs,  and  meat  as  can  be 
digested  and  to  observe  the  other  rules  of  hygiene. 
Incipient  cases,  those  in  the  earliest  stages,  may 
sometimes  be  cured  while  continuing  at  work  by 
following  the  other  rules  as  nearly  as  possible. 

On  account  of  the  extremely  contagious  nature 
of  tuberculosis,  special  care  should  be  taken  to  pre- 
vent its  spread.  The  sputum  coughed  up  from  the 
lungs  is  the  principal  carrier  of  the  disease,  and  the 
person  who,  having  tuberculosis,  even  in  its  earliest 
stages,  spits  in  a  public  place,  is  an  enemy  of  man- 
kind, for  he  endangers  the  lives  of  hundreds  of 
others.  The  only  excuse  for  this  is  that  he  usually 
does  it  through  ignorance,  but  the  knowledge  of 
the  danger  should  be  so  impressed  on  all  the  peo- 
ple that  no  one  could  plead  ignorance,  and  for  a 
consumptive  to  spit  on  the  street  should  be 
counted  as  much  a  crime  morally  as  for  a  small- 


HEALTH  277 

pox  patient  deliberately  to  expose  others  to  the 
disease. 

Great  care  should  of  course  be  taken  in  the  home 
of  a  consumptive  patient  to  prevent  the  infection 
from  spreading  through  the  family.  Separate 
sleeping-rooms,  thorough  disinfection,  and  the  use 
of  paper  napkins  vi^hich  are  burned  at  once,  to  take 
the  place  of  handkerchiefs,  should  be  some  of  the 
means  employed. 

Pneumonia,  pleurisy,  bronchitis,  grip,  colds,  and 
catarrh  are  some  of  the  other  ailments  which  may 
be  largely  banished  by  living  the  outdoor  life. 
The  method  of  treatment  is  medical,  is  different  in 
each  case,  and  should  be  decided  by  the  family 
physician.  The  constant  habit  of  breathing  im- 
purities, day  after  day  and  year  after  year,  brings 
about  a  gradual  change  in  the  tissue  of  the  lungs. 

In  the  same  way,  simple  food  to  take  the  place 
of  the  rich,  heavy  foods  eaten  in  large  quantities, 
will  prevent  many  of  the  diseases  of  the  stomach, 
liver,  and  kidneys,  and  improve  the  general  health 
and  strength.  A  diet  of  less  meat  and  more  eggs 
has  been  tried  by  football  teams  in  training  and 
found  to  give  an  equal  amount  of  strength  with 
greater  endurance.  A  diet  of  milk,  cereals,  vege- 
tables, nuts,  and  fruits,  raw  or  simply  cooked,  with 
a  small  amount  of  animal  foods,  will  perhaps  give 


278  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

the  best  results  in  this  climate.  Food  fried  in  fats, 
rich  pastries  and  gravies  are  the  hardest  to  digest, 
and  better  health  will  usually  follow  discontinuing 
them. 

The  purity  of  the  food  eaten  should  receive 
careful  consideration.  Artificially  preserved  foods 
are  usually  more  or  less  dangerous,  for  although 
dealers  urge  that  the  poison  contained  in  them  is 
too  small  to  do  harm  we  must  remember  that  it  is 
not  the  single  dose  that  does  harm,  but  the  many 
foods  each  containing  a  very  small  amount  of  poi- 
son, taken  day  after  day. 

Pure  food  laws,  national  and  state,  have  done 
great  good  in  driving  adulterated  and  impure  foods 
out  of  the  markets  by  requiring  all  foods  to  be 
properly  labeled. 

Thorough  mastication  or  chewing  of  the  food  is 
only  a  little  less  important  than  the  character  of  the 
food  itself.  Rapid  swallowing  without  chewing  in 
childhood  lays  the  foundation  for  many  of  the  di- 
gestive diseases  of  later  life.  If  food  be  thor- 
oughly masticated  much  that  would  otherwise  be 
hard  to  digest  can  be  eaten  without  bad  results. 
One  of  the  best  known  examples  of  this  is  meat, 
which,  while  full  of  nourishment,  sets  up  in  the 
large  intestine  a  condition  known  as  "  auto-intoxi- 
cation," a  species  of  digestive  poison.     If  meat  be 


HEALTH  279 

eaten  slowly  and  chewed  thoroughly,  this  condition 
is  almost  entirely  absent. 

Pure  drinking  water  is  almost  as  necessary 
as  pure  food.  We  take  water  into  the  body  for 
three  principal  purposes:  first,  it  is  needed  to  dis- 
solve and  dilute  various  substances  and  carry  them 
from  one  part  of  the  body  to  another;  second,  it 
forms  a  large  part  of  the  blood  and  other  important 
fluids  of  the  body,  and  is  a  part  of  many  substances 
formed  in  the  body;  third,  it  serves  to  carry  from 
the  body  the  worn-out  and  useless  tissues,  the  waste 
products  of  the  body. 

These  are  extremely  poisonous  and  must  be 
promptly  disposed  of  to  prevent  sickness.  This 
can  not  be  done  except  by  an  ample  supply  of  water. 
Few  persons,  especially  grown  persons,  drink 
enough  water.  Ten  glasses  of  pure  water  are 
needed  properly  to  supply  the  body.  "  Insufficient 
water  drinking  is  perhaps  the  commonest  cause  of 
the  interruption  of  the  normal  life  processes,"  says 
Doctor  Theron  C.  Stearns. 

But  the  common  drinking  cup  in  public  places 
probably  causes  far  more  disease  than  the  drinking 
itself  prevents. 

Particles  of  dead  skin  and  disease-germs  are  left 
in  the  cup  by  each  drinker.  Some  of  the  most  se- 
rious diseases  may  be  carried  in  this  way.     A  cup 


28o  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

made  of  heavy  waterproof  paper,  cheap  enough  to 
be  thrown  away  after  being  used  once,  is  a  recent 
invention  that  is  highly  recommended  for  use  by 
school  children  and  those  who  are  obliged  to  drink 
away  from  home.  The  water  in  a  public  drinking- 
fountain  should  come  out  in  a  small  steady  stream 
so  that  those  who  have  no  cups  may  drink  from  the 
stream  itself  as  it  rises.  Many  school-houses  are 
so  equipped. 

Sleep  is  a  necessary  part  of  good  hygiene.  It 
promotes  health  and  prevents  disease.  It  is  largely 
in  sleep  that  the  system  renews  itself,  that  growth 
takes  place,  that  waste  products  are  thrown  off, 
and  the  body  repairs  its  wastes.  No  less  than  eight 
hours  for  grown  persons  and  ten  for  children  should 
be  employed  in  sleep.  Late  hours  and  sleepless 
nights  are  the  frequent  cause  of  nervousness,  eye 
strain,  nervous  prostration,  and  the  beginning  of 
brain  troubles  and  insanity. 

Bathing  is  also  necessary  to  good  health.  The 
pores  of  the  skin  play  a  large  part  in  carrying  off  the 
wastes  of  the  body,  through  the  perspiration,  and 
if  these  become  clogged,  this  poisonous  material  re- 
mains in  the  system.  We  have  all  noticed  how  a 
bath  refreshes  and  gives  tone  to  the  entire  body  by 
opening  the  pores. 

The  skin  is  composed  of  minute  scales,  arranged 
in    layers    like    fish    scales.     The    tiny    crevices 


HEALTH  281 

between  these  form  a  lodging  place  for  dirt 
and  germs.  If  these  remain,  our  own  bodies  are 
constantly  exposed  to  their  infection,  if  they  drop 
oflf,  as  some  are  constantly  doing,  we  may  spread 
the  contagion  to  others.  This  is  strikingly  illus- 
trated by  scarlet  fever,  smallpox,  and  similar  dis- 
eases where  these  minute  scales  are  the  sole  source 
of  contagion. 

Exercise  is  another  necessity  of  health.  Regular 
physical  culture  in  a  gymnasium  will  develop  any 
muscle  or  part  of  the  body  almost  at  will,  but  if  this 
be  not  possible  much  can  be  accomplished  in  de- 
veloping the  body  by  simple  work.  Gladstone 
found  health  in  chopping  wood,  Roosevelt  in  a  daily 
tennis  game,  and  President  Taft  in  golf.  Many 
find  it  in  gardening  or  farming.  These  all  help  to 
develop  vigorous  bodies. 

Anything  which  brings  into  moderate  play  any 
set  of  muscles,  which  increases  the  circulation,  or 
stimulates  the  secretion  is  beneficial.  House-work, 
which,  in  its  various  forms,  brings  into  use  all  the 
muscles  of  the  body,  is  a  wholesome  exercise  for 
women.  Those  who  do  no  house-work  seldom 
substitute  for  it  any  other  active  exercise,  and  many 
diseases  which  are  caused  by  deposits  of  waste  tis- 
sues that  are  not  thrown  off  by  the  body,  are  the 
result. 

Rest  —  recreation  —  pleasure  —  these  are  as  nee- 


282  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

essary  to  health  as  anything  else,  but  the  American 
people  are  slow  to  learn  the  need  of  them.  We 
hear  much  of  nervous  prostration  as  an  American 
disease.  It  is  due  to  a  variety  of  causes, —  high 
living,  late  hours,  ill-ventilated  rooms,  and  climate; 
but  chief  of  all  the  causes  is  the  long  hours  of  work 
under  strong  pressure.  Work  done  in  a  hurry  and 
without  rest  may  accomplish  many  things,  but  it 
invariably  causes  a  corresponding  loss  of  nerve 
force.  Fatigue,  by  checking  bodily  resistance,  gives 
rise  to  all  kinds  of  poisons  in  the  system.  Every 
part  of  the  body  feels  the  ill  effect  of  continued  ex- 
haustion. 

Of  the  diseases  caused  by  bad  habits,  it  can  only 
be  said  that  all  the  evils  they  cause,  directly  and  in- 
directly, are  entirely  preventable;  that  they  are  us- 
ually wrong  morally,  and  that  the  suffering  which 
results  is  sure. 

Under  this  head  come  the  effects  of  drinking, 
of  the  use  of  tobacco  and  drugs,  and  of  bad  per- 
sonal and  social  habits.  It  is  only  necessary  to  re- 
frain from  these  bad  habits  to  prevent  all  the  dis- 
eases that  arise  from  them,  with  all  their  train  of 
suffering,  poverty  and  crime. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  book  to  deal  with 
scientific  temperance,  but  merely  to  state  a  few  of 
the  most  serious  results  of  the  use  of  alcohol  and 
other  poisons.     The  white  corpuscles  of  the  blood 


HEALTH  283 

have  been  called  our  "  standing  army,"  because  they 
are  natural  germ-destroyers.  One  class  of  the  white 
cells  has  the  power  of  motion,  and  another  class 
has  the  power  of  absorbing  outside  matter,  such  as 
disease-germs.  One  destroys  the  germs  and  the 
other  moves  them  through  the  blood  and  carries 
them  off  with  the  waste  products  of  the  body. 

The  white  corpuscles  thus  stand  as  the  defenders 
of  the  body,  ready  to  destroy  the  germs  as  they  en- 
ter, and  are,  for  each  individual,  the  best  of  all  pre- 
ventives of  germ  diseases.  The  person  whose  blood 
is  lacking  in  white  cells  is  always  liable  to  "  catch  " 
contagious  or  infectious  diseases,  and  the  one  who 
has  that  element  of  the  blood  in  proper  proportion 
is  best  fitted  to  withstand  disease. 

Leading  physicians  believe  that  the  greatest  harm 
that  comes  from  the  use  of  alcohol  lies  in  the  fact 
that  nothing  else  so  weakens  the  resistance  of  the 
white  corpuscles,  and  that  therefore  the  person 
who  is  an  habitual  user  of  alcohol  lacks  the  power 
to  repel  all  classes  of  disease.  English  and  American 
life  insurance  companies  give  us  almost  exactly  the 
same  figures,  which  show  that  of  insured  persons, 
the  death  rate  is  twenty-three  per  cent,  higher  among 
those  who  use  alcohol  than  among  total  abstainers. 
It  is  probable  that  the  proportion  of  persons  carry- 
ing life  insurance  is  much  less  among  the  drinking 
classes  and  that  if  we  had  complete  statistics  the 


284  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

difference  would  be  far  greater  than  appears  in  the 
life  insurance  tables. 

Of  time  lost  by  sickness,  directly  and  through 
other  diseases  caused  by  alcoholism,  drugs  and 
other  bad  habits,  the  percentage  is  very  great,  ac- 
cording to  all  hospital  records. 

The  number  of  prominent  persons  who  have  died 
of  "  tobacco  heart "  indicates  that  the  rate  of  those 
whose  heart  action  is  weakened  by  the  use  of  to- 
bacco is  probably  very  large. 

Doctor  Morrow  says  that  if  we  could  put  an 
end  at  once  to  diseases  caused  by  bad  habits  it 
would  result  in  closing  at  least  one-half  of  our  in- 
stitutions for  defective  persons,  and  almost  all  of 
our  penal  institutions. 

There  is  another  long  list  of  diseases  which  are 
contagious,  that  is,  which  one  person  may  transmit 
to  another.  These  are  usually  serious  but  their 
spread  may  be  largely  prevented  by  keeping  the 
sick  person  alone,  except  for  the  necessary  nurses, 
quarantining  the  house  and  disinfecting  everything 
when  the  period  of  infection  is  past. 

In  this  class  are  smallpox,  diphtheria,  scarlet 
fever,  measles,  mumps,  chicken-pox  and  whooping- 
cough. 

These  latter  are  the  so-called  "  childish  dis- 
eases "  which  it  was  formerly  considered  impossible 
to  escape,  and  little  attempt  was  made  to  guard 


HEALTH  285 

against  them.  Now  they  are  recognized  as  serious, 
whooping-cough  for  its  close  relation  to  brain  and 
spinal  trouble;  measles  for  their  effect  on  the  eyes 
and  lungs;  chicken-pox  for  its  similarity  to  small- 
pox, and  mumps  for  its  general  lowering  of  the 
tone  of  the  system,  allowing  other  diseases  to  gain 
a  foothold. 

Special  serum  treatment  for  diphtheria  and  vac- 
cination for  smallpox  have  greatly  reduced  the 
danger  from  these  once  greatly  dreaded  diseases. 

Of  preventable  diseases  none  should  receive  more 
attention  than  typhoid  fever,  because  it  is  a  great 
scourge  and  yet  it  can  be  prevented  by  simple 
means.  If  we  understand  that  typhoid  is  a  dirt 
disease,  that  it  comes  only  from  dirt,  we  shall  feel 
it  a  disgrace  to  have  an  epidemic  of  typhoid,  though 
one  of  the  saddest  features  about  it  is  that  we  must 
suffer  for  the  sins  of  others.  The  one  who  is  at- 
tacked by  typhoid  fever  may  not  be  the  one  who  has 
left  dirt  for  the  disease  to  breed  in. 

Typhoid  fever  germs  are  bred  chiefly  in  ma- 
nure piles,  sewers,  or  cess-pools,  and  would  not  be 
transmitted  to  man  directly,  but  there  are  several 
indirect  ways  in  which  they  may  be  carried.  Flies 
also  breed  in  the  same  places.  Their  legs  become 
covered  with  typhoid  germs,  and  then  they  fly  into 
houses  directly  on  the  food  and  cooking  utensils. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  common  ways  in  which  the 


286  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

disease  is  carried,  and  doctors  tell  us  that  the  com- 
mon house-fly  should  be  known  as  the  "  typhoid 
fly  "  so  that  people  may  know  the  serious  danger 
that  lurks  in  what  was  formerly  considered  as  noth- 
ing worse  than  an  annoying  foe  to  clean  house- 
keeping. 

If  houses  are  thoroughly  screened,  if  cess-pools, 
manure  piles  and  garbage  are  kept  tightly  covered, 
screened,  or,  still  better,  disinfected  with  chloride 
of  lime,  there  will  be  no  breeding-places  left  for 
flies  and  this  will  remove  one  of  the  greatest  dan- 
gers. 

The  other  danger  lies  in  a  polluted  water  or  milk 
supply.  Every  sewer  that  is  carried  into  a  stream, 
every  manure  pile  that  drains  into  a  water  course 
is  a  menace  to  health. 

Very  frequently  the  farm  well  for  watering  stock 
is  near  the  barn, —  near  the  manure  pile,  which,  as 
it  drains,  carries  down  millions  of  typhoid  germs 
to  the  water-level  below.  The  well  becomes  infected, 
the  family  drink  from  it,  and  soon  there  may  be 
several  cases  of  typhoid  fever  in  the  home. 

Worst  of  all,  the  milk  pails  are  rinsed  at  the  well, 
and  all  the  milk  that  is  poured  into  them  spreads 
the  germs  wherever  the  milk  may  be  sold.  In  this 
way  an  epidemic  may  be  carried  to  an  entire  town, 
and  to  persons  who  themselves  have  taken  every 
precaution  against  the  disease. 


HEALTH  287 

Drinking  water  should  be  boiled  unless  one  is 
sure  of  the  water-supply,  and  surface  wells  are 
never  safe  unless  we  know  that  they  drain  only 
from  clean  sources,  and  then  the  water  should  be 
analyzed  frequently.  Boiling  absolutely  destroys 
typhoid  and  other  germs,  and  well  repays  the  extra 
work  it  makes.  One  case  of  typhoid  fever  causes 
more  work  than  boiling  the  water  for  years,  if  we 
consider  the  work  only. 

If  you  can  not  buy  pasteurized  milk,  and  are  not 
sure  of  conditions  about  the  dairy,  your  milk  should 
be  boiled,  or,  still  better,  sterilized  at  home  by  put- 
ting it  in  bottles  or  other  containers,  and  placing  in 
a  vessel  of  hot  water,  keeping  the  milk  for  several 
hours  about  half-way  to  the  boiling  point,  then  cool- 
ing gradually. 

All  these  means  of  prevention  are  troublesome 
and  require  time  and  work,  but  as  the  result  in  health 
for  the  family  is  sure,  every  housekeeper  should 
gladly  take  this  extra  burden  on  herself  if  it  be 
necessary.  In  some  states  and  many  cities,  the 
laws  governing  dairies  are  now  so  strict  that  there 
is  no  need  of  doing  this  work  in  the  home.  This 
care  in  the  dairies  should  be  insisted  on  everywhere, 
even  if  it  raises  the  price  of  milk,  because  it  means 
the  saving  of  many  doctor  and  drug  bills  and  also 
raises  the  standard  of  public  health. 

Yellow  fever  was  formerly  dreaded  more  than 


288  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

any  other  single  disease  because  it  was  so  wide- 
spread, so  fatal,  and  was  thought  to  be  violently 
contagious,  but  during  the  Spanish-American  War 
it  was  proved  that  it  is  not  contagious  at  all,  but 
comes  only  from  the  bite  of  a  certain  mosquito,  the 
stegomia,  which  is  usually  found  only  in  hot  cli- 
mates. It  is  conveyed  in  this  way:  the  mosquito 
bites  a  yellow  fever  patient;  for  twelve  days  it  is 
harmless,  but  after  that  time  it  may  infect  every 
person  that  it  bites. 

If  every  yellow  fever  patient  could  be  screened 
with  netting  to  prevent  his  being  bitten,  we  could 
prevent  the  yellow  fever  mosquito  from  becoming 
infected.  Further,  if  we  can  prevent  healthy  peo- 
ple from  being  bitten  by  fever-infected  mosquitoes, 
they  will  escape  the  disease,  and  still  further,  if  we 
can  destroy  the  eggs  of  mosquitoes,  we  can  entirely 
obviate  all  danger  of  yellow  fever  in  a  community. 

The  mosquito  breeds  only  in  water;  by  having 
all  cisterns,  rain-water  barrels,  and  other  water 
containers  carefully  covered,  and  by  spreading  the 
surface  of  pools  of  standing  water,  especially  dirty 
water,  covered  with  greenish  scum,  with  a  thick 
coating  of  kerosene  oil,  we  can  prevent  the  eggs 
from  hatching.  This  has  been  done  in  many  com- 
munities in  Cuba  and  the  southern  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  has  resulted  in  completely  stamping  out 
the  disease  in  those  places. 


HEALTH  289 

Malaria  is  caused  by  another  mosquito,  called 
the  anopheles  and  while  malaria  is  seldom  fatal 
as  is  yellow  fever,  it  causes  much  suffering  and  loss 
of  time,  and  strong  efforts  should  be  made  to  pre- 
vent it.  The  same  measures  that  are  used  to 
prevent  yellow  fever  will  banish  malaria  from  any 
community.  They  are  the  screening  of  patients  to 
prevent  spreading  the  disease;  screening  all  houses 
closely  and  keeping  close  watch  for  mosquitoes  in 
the  house,  and  covering  all  ponds  in  the  neighbor- 
hood with  oil.  New  Jersey  mosquitoes  were  for- 
merly known  far  and  wide,  but  such  an  active  cam- 
paign has  been  waged  against  them,  that  they  have 
been  almost  completely  driven  from  the  state. 

The  ordinary  mosquito  has  never  been  found  to 
do  any  harm  beyond  the  discomfort  of  its  bite. 

Of  other  diseases  caused  by  insects,  an  affection 
of  the  eyes  called  pink-eye  is  carried  by  very  tiny 
flies,  and  the  dreaded  bubonic  plague  is  supposed  to 
be  transferred  from  sick  people  to  well  ones  by  the 
bites  of  fleas,  which  in  turn  are  brought  to  this 
country  by  rats. 

The  hook-worm  which  affects  so  many  persons 
in  the  South  is  often  called  "  the  lazy  disease  "  since 
the  persons  afflicted  with  it  are  not  totally  disabled, 
but  are  lacking  in  energy  and  vigor  because  the 
small  insects  take  from  the  blood  the  red  corpuscles 
which  should  carry  the  digested  food  all  over  the 


290  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

body.  These  insects  can  be  destroyed  by  medicine, 
of  which  only  a  few  cents  worth  is  required  to  cure 
a  case  and  make  the  patient  fit  for  work  and  en- 
joyment. In  Porto  Rico  almost  300,000  cases  have 
been  treated  by  the  United  States  government  in 
the  last  six  years. 

Another  matter  which  should  receive  careful  con- 
sideration is  the  large  number  of  preventable  ac- 
cidents. Mining  accidents  come  in  a  few  cases 
from  failure  to  provide  the  best  appliances  in 
the  mines,  but  in  many  cases  are  due  to  careless- 
ness or  ignorance  of  the  operators  themselves. 
There  still  remain  a  large  number  of  accidents 
which  occur  in  the  best  regulated  mines,  and  when 
no  instance  of  special  carelessness  can  be  traced. 
For  years  these  disasters  have  puzzled  mining  en- 
gineers, but  within  the  last  few  months  it  has  been 
discovered  that  the  minute  particles  of  coal  dust  in 
a  dry  mine  completely  fill  the  air,  so  that  the  air 
itself  is  ready  to  burn. 

When  a  light  is  taken  into  this  coal-filled  at- 
mosphere, it  bursts  into  flame,  causing  a  violent 
explosion.  Sprinkling  the  mines,  forcing  a  fine 
spray  of  water  through  the  air  of  every  part  of  the 
mines,  it  is  thought,  will  prevent  this  class  of  acci- 
dents, which  have  furnished  long  lists  of  killed  and 
injured  each  year. 

Reports  show  that  one  miner  is  killed  and  several 


HEALTH  291 

injured  for  every  one  hundred  thousand  tons  of 
coal  mined.  The  mining  accidents  of  one  year  total 
2,500  killed  and  6,000  seriously  injured. 

Other  industries  do  not  cause  such  wholesale  in- 
juries, but  there  are  thousands  of  individual  acci- 
dents each  year  where  the  injury  varies  from  man- 
gled fingers  to  death. 

When  the  cause  is  failure  to  provide  suitable 
safeguards  to  machinery,  or  to  warn  employees  of 
danger,  the  penalty  to  the  employers  should  be  made 
severe,  so  that  no  consideration  of  money  will  pre- 
vent them  from  taking  precautions.  More  often, 
however,  the  injury  is  due  to  the  carelessness  of  the 
men  or  to  the  fact  that  they  try  to  run  machines 
with  which  they  are  unfamiliar. 

Manual  training  schools,  night  schools  for  work- 
ing-men, with  a  short  apprenticeship  in  the  running 
of  machinery  and  an  explanation  of  the  dangers, 
will  go  far  to  prevent  this  class  of  accidents,  but 
the  fact  will  still  remain,  that  often  those  who  are 
most  familiar  with  machinery  become  careless  and 
are  more  liable  to  injury  than  beginners. 

The  number  of  accidents  that  have  been  added 
to  the  world's  list  by  automobiles,  both  to  those  rid- 
ing and  to  persons  who  are  run  over  by  them,  is 
great  and  is  in  a  large  measure  due  to  carelessness 
in  handling  the  machine  or  to  reckless  driving. 

The  entire  number  of  accidents  in  the  United 


292  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

States,  including  railway  accidents,  reaches  the  im- 
mense total  of  sixty  thousand  killed  and  many  times 
that  number  injured.  A  most  appalling  waste  of 
life  and  labor  value! 

Professor  Ditman  says,  "  Of  29,000,000  workers 
in  the  United  States  over  500,000  are  yearly  killed 
or  crippled  as  a  direct  result  of  the  occupations  in 
which  they  are  engaged  —  more  than  were  killed 
and  wounded  throughout  the  whole  Russo-Japa- 
nese War.  More  than  one-half  this  tremendous 
sacrifice  of  life  is  needless." 

Until  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  there  was  a 
large  addition  to  the  death  rate  each  year  from  the 
blood  poisoning  following  operations  and  injuries 
making  open  wounds.  It  was  not  until  the  dis- 
covery of  the  germs  which  cause  septic  poisoning 
that  deaths  from  these  causes  could  be  checked. 
The  use  of  antiseptics,  such  as  carbolic  acid,  alco- 
hol, and  various  other  preparations,  the  boiling  of 
all  surgical  instruments,  and  the  boiling  or  baking 
of  all  articles  used  in  the  treatment  of  open  wounds 
and  sores  has  reduced  the  death  rate  at  least  one- 
half. 

The  rate  could  be  lowered  much  more  if  all  sores 
were  treated  as  surgical  cases  and  carefully  steril- 
ized from  the  beginning.  About  eighty-five  deaths 
out  of  every  hundred  from  these  causes  might  be 
prevented. 


HEALTH  293 

Every  Fourth  of  July  a  great  many  entirely  pre- 
ventable deaths  and  minor  accidents  occur.  The 
toy  pistol  has  come  to  be  considered  almost  as 
deadly  as  the  larger  variety.  The  tiny  "  caps " 
that  are  used  in  them  are  fired  back  into  the  hand 
of  the  person  shooting  them,  tiny  particles  of  pow- 
der enter  the  skin,  burrowing  into  the  flesh,  and  the 
skin  closes  over  them,  shutting  out  the  air.  If  these 
particles  carry  with  them  tetanus  germs,  as  is  often 
the  case,  because  these  germs  are  found  chiefly  in 
the  dirt  of  the  street  where  most  of  this  shooting 
is  done,  lock-jaw  or  tetanus,  a  severe  form  of  blood- 
poisoning,  results,  and  is  usually  fatal.  The  same 
results  come  less  frequently  from  fire-crackers  and 
other  explosives,  and  in  addition  many  accidents 
which  injure  hands,  eyes,  and  other  parts  of  the 
body,  are  the  result  of  the  use  of  the  heavier  ex- 
plosives. 

The  Pasteur  Treatment  is  saving  many  lives  each 
year  by  treating  cases  of  infection  from  "  mad 
dogs  "  and  other  animals  affected  with  hydrophobia. 

Among  the  diseases  which  can  be  remedied  by 
slight  means  are  enlarged  tonsils  and  adenoid 
growths  back  of  the  nose,  both  of  which  can  be  re- 
moved by  a  slight  and  almost  painless  operation,  but 
which,  if  allowed  to  develop,  often  cause  serious 
throat  and  lung  troubles,  deafness,  and  weakened 
minds.     Slight  defects  of  the  eyes  can  be  remedied 


294  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

by  the  wearing  of  glasses,  but  which  if  unchecked 
give  rise  to  various  nerve  and  spinal  diseases  as  well 
as  more  serious  eye  troubles.  It  is  believed  now 
that  most  of  the  blindness  of  later  life  could  be  pre- 
vented by  proper  care  of  the  eyes  in  early  life  and 
by  prompt  attention  to  slight  defects  of  the  eyes 
when  they  begin. 

Doctor  Walter  Cornell,  who  has  made  a  study  of 
eye  strain  says,  "  Eye  strain  is  the  chief  cause  of 
functional  diseases.  It  is  almost  the  sole  cause  of 
headache,  is  the  frequent  cause  of  digestive  dis- 
eases, of  spinal  curvatures,  and  indirectly  of  neuras- 
thenia and  hysteria." 

Decayed  teeth  in  children,  slight  in  themselves, 
give  rise  to  more  serious  troubles  in  later  life, —  ill- 
shaped  mouths  and  jaws  and  crooked  teeth  result 
from  teeth  that  have  been  drawn  too  early  in  life. 
Decayed  teeth  lead  also  to  many  stomach  and  di- 
gestive troubles. 

Medical  inspection  in  the  schools  shows  a  sur- 
prising number  of  children  suffering  from  these 
minor  troubles.  About  80,000  children  were  ex- 
amined, and  the  records  show  that  out  of  every  one 
hundred  children  examined  sixty-six  needed  the 
services  of  a  doctor,  surgeon,  or  dentist,  and  some 
needed  all  three. 

Forty  out  of  each  hundred  had  badly  neglected 
teeth. 


HEALTH  295 

Thirty-eight  had  enlarged  glands  of  the  neck. 

Eighteen  had  enlarged  tonsils. 

Ten  had  growths  of  the  nose. 

Thirty-one  needed  glasses. 

Six  needed  more  nourishing  food. 

This  meant  that  more  than  52,000  of  the  num- 
ber needed  some  medical  care  that  they  would  not 
have  received  at  home  because  their  parents  had 
never  noticed  the  need  of  it.  Every  one  of  them 
could  by  prompt  attention,  a  small  dentist's  bill, 
a  slight  operation  of  the  throat  or  nose,  or  the 
use  of  glasses,  (almost  25,000  needed  glasses)  be 
saved  great  suffering  or  inability  to  work  in  later 
life. 

As  we  learn  more  of  disease,  and  especially  of 
germ  diseases,  we  are  oppressed  by  the  feeling  that 
we  are  in  constant  danger,  but  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  it  is  the  weak  and  unfit  that  are  attacked, 
and  that  fitness,  while  partly  inherited,  is  almost 
altogether  a  matter  of  proper  hygiene.  Keeping 
our  bodily  defenses  in  good  condition  against  dis- 
ease is  as  much  a  matter  of  necessity  and  good  pol- 
icy as  keeping  the  defenses  of  a  city  in  fighting 
condition  in  time  of  war. 

That  life  may  be  prolonged  and  so  strengthened 
that  the  average  height,  weight,  and  endurance  will 
be  increased,  admits  of  no  doubt.  The  same  rule 
of  cultivation  runs  through  all  nature.     The  orig- 


296  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

inal  or  natural  apple  was  a  small,  sour,  bitter  crab. 
The  difference  between  that  and  the  finest  products 
of  western  orchards,  is  altogether  a  matter  of  culti- 
vation, selection,  and  proper  treatment.  In  1710 
the  average  weight  of  dressed  cattle  did  not  exceed 
three  hundred  and  seventy  pounds.  Now  it  is  not 
far  from  one  thousand  pounds.  An  equal  change 
could  be  made  in  the  human  race,  but  because  we 
believe  so  fully  in  personal  liberty  to  live  our  lives 
as  we  choose,  little  has  actually  been  done  to  raise 
the  human  standard. 

The  care  and  hygiene  of  chidren  is  receiving  uni- 
versal attention,  with  the  result  of  a  wonderful  re- 
duction in  the  sickness  and  death  of  children,  but  as 
yet  comparatively  few  grown  persons  apply  these 
lessons  to  their  own  lives,  and  the  rates  for  older 
persons  remain  almost  unchanged. 

When  individuals  have  done  all  that  they  can, 
there  still  remains  much  that  must  be  done  by  the 
city,  the  state,  and  the  nation.  Boards  of  health 
can  do  much  toward  controlling  epidemics  by  plac- 
ing infected  households  under  quarantine,  by  com- 
pelling householders  who  are  ignorant  or  careless 
to  clean  their  premises  and  to  take  other  precautions 
for  the  public  health. 

Hospitals,  both  public  and  private,  have  done 
excellent  work,  not  only  in  curing  disease  but  in 
gaining  more  definite  knowledge  of  the  nature  of 


HEALTH  297 

diseases  through  the  study  of  large  numbers  of 
cases. 

The  cleaning  of  streets  and  the  removal  of  garb- 
age regularly  are  among  the  great  factors  in  keep- 
ing a  city  in  a  sanitary  condition.  New  Orleans 
and  some  of  the  cities  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  show 
strikingly  what  may  be  done  in  that  direction. 

Medical  inspection  of  schools  is  a  new  and  valu- 
able aid  to  health.  Epidemics  of  childish  diseases 
which  sweep  through  the  schools  with  a  fearful 
record  of  illness  and  a  lesser  one  of  death,  may 
often  be  checked  entirely  by  the  close  watch  of  the 
medical  inspector,  who  removes  the  first  patients 
from  the  schools  when  the  disease  is  in  its  begin- 
ning. 

Public  playgrounds  for  children  in  cities  have  an 
influence  that  it  is  as  good  for  health  as  it  is  for 
morals,  providing,  as  it  does,  fresh  air  and  active 
exercise  for  children.  Open  air  schools  for  tuber- 
cular children  are  being  operated  in  several  cities 
with  excellent  results  in  health  and  school  work. 

Many  states  are  making  an  organized  effort  to 
fight  tuberculosis  by  establishing  fresh-air  colonies 
where,  with  pure  air,  rest  and  plenty  of  the  most 
nourishing  food,  patients  are  restored  to  health. 

Care  of  epileptics  and  the  insane  by  the  state, 
with  proper  hygiene  and  treatment,  accomplishes 
many  cures. 


298  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

The  nation  is  doing  excellent  work  in  a  few  lines, 
notably  the  Pure  Food  Bureau  and  the  Marine 
Hospital  Corps,  but  perfected  organization  of  all 
the  forces  is  lacking.  The  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture has  done  a  wonderful  work  in  investigating 
and  curbing  insect  pests  that  injure  farm  crops  and 
trees,  and  in  stamping  out  disease  among  live  stock. 
Forty-six  million  dollars  have  been  spent  and  well 
spent  in  the  work  in  the  last  few  years,  but  it  is  a 
matter  of  reproach  that  more  pains  are  taken  to 
save  the  lives  of  cattle  and  farm  crops  than  human 
lives. 

There  should  be  a  strong  central  Bureau  of 
Health  with  power  and  money  scientifically  to  in- 
vestigate disease,  to  distribute  information  as  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  does  to  farmers,  and  to 
carry  out  their  ideas,  as  do  state  and  city  boards  of, 
health. 

We  have  dealt  with  only  one  side  of  the  ques- 
tion—  the  suffering  and  sorrow;  but  in  a  work  on 
conservation,  we  must  consider  also  the  money 
question,  the  loss  to  the  nation  in  time  and  money  of 
these  great  wastes  of  health  and  life. 

There  are  no  trustworthy  statistics  as  to  wages. 
The  average  yearly  earnings  of  all  persons,  from 
day  laborers  to  presidents,  is  estimated  at  seven  hun- 
dred dollars;  but  as  not  more  than  three-fourths  of 
the  people  are  actual  workers,  three-fourths  of  this 


HEALTH  299 

amount,  or  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  is 
taken  as  the  average  wage. 

From  these  figures  the  money  value  of  a  person 
under  five  years  is  given  at  ninety-five  dollars ;  from 
five  to  ten  years,  at  nine  hundred  and  fifty  dollars; 
from  ten  to  twenty  years  at  $2,000 ;  from  twenty  to 
thirty  at  $4,000 ;  thirty  to  fifty  years  at  $4,000 ;  fifty 
to  eighty  at  $2,900  and  over  eighty  at  $700  or  less. 
The  average  value  of  life  at  all  ages  is  $2,900  and  the 
93,000,000  persons  living  in  this  country  would  be 
worth  in  earning  power  the  vast  sum  of  $270,000,- 
000,000.  This  is  probably  a  low  estimate  but  is 
more  than  double  all  our  other  wealth  combined. 

Now  let  us  see  how  much  of  this  vital  wealth  is 
wasted.  As  the  average  death  rate  is  at  least  eigh- 
teen out  of  each  thousand,  we  have  1,500,000  as  the 
number  of  deaths  in  the  United  States  each  year. 
Of  these,  forty-two  per  cent.,  or  630,000  are  classed 
as  preventable  —  so  that  a  number  equal  to  the  en- 
tire population  of  the  city  of  Boston  die  each  year 
whose  deaths  are  as  unnecessary  as  is  the  waste  of 
our  forests  by  fire. 

H  some  great  plague  should  carry  oflf  all  the 
people  of  Boston,  not  the  people  of  the  United  States 
only,  but  of  the  whole  world  would  be  roused  by 
the  appalling  calamity  and  every  possible  means 
would  be  employed  to  prevent  other  cities  from 
sharing  such  a  fate;  but  because  these  preventable 


300  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

deaths  are  not  in  one  city,  but  are  widely  scattered, 
we  have  long  remained  indifferent  to  this  terrible 
and  needless  waste. 

Then  there  are  always  3,000,000  persons  ill, 
1,000,000  of  whom  are  of  working  age.  If,  as 
before,  we  count  only  three- fourths  of  them  as  ac- 
tual workers,  we  find  a  yearly  direct  loss  from  sick- 
ness of  $500,000,000  in  wages.  The  daily  cost  of 
nursing,  doctor  bills,  and  medicine  is  counted  at  one 
dollar  and  fifty  cents,  which  makes  for  the  3,000,000 
sick,  a  yearly  cost  for  these  items  of  more  than  $1,- 
500,000,000.  What  should  we  think  if  nearly  all  of 
the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  were  constantly 
sick,  and  were  spending  for  doctors,  nurses,  and 
medicine  as  much  money  as  Congress  appropriates 
to  run  every  department  of  the  government ! 

It  is  estimated  that  sickness  and  death  cost  the 
United  States  $3,000,000,000  annually,  of  which  at 
least  a  third,  probably  one-half,  is  preventable.  Is 
it  not  well  worth  while,  then,  from  a  money  stand- 
point alone,  to  use  every  effort  to  conserve  our  na- 
tional health?  Conservation  of  health  and  life, 
going  hand  in  hand  with  conservation  of  national 
resources,  will  give  us  not  only  a  better  America, 
but  better,  stronger,  happier,  more  enlightened  Amer- 
icans. What  a  new  world  would  be  opened  to  us  if 
we  could  have  a  nation  with  no  sickness  or  suffer- 
ing!    That  is  the  ideal,  and  everything  that  we  can 


HEALTH  301 

do  toward  realizing  that  ideal  is  a  great  step  in  hu- 
man progress. 

REFERENCES 

Report  on  National  Vitality.  Committee  of  One  Hundred, 
(Fisher.) 

The  Nature  of  Man.     Metchnikoff. 

The  Prolongation  of  Life.    Metchnikoff. 

The  New  Hygiene.    Metchnikoff, 

Vital  Statistics.     Farr. 

The  Kingdom  of  Man.    Lankester. 

Cost  of  Tuberculosis.    Fisher, 

School  Hygiene.     Keating. 

Economic  Loss  Through  Insects  That  Carry  Disease. 
Howard. 

Report  of  Associated  Fraternities  on  Infectious,  Conta- 
gious, and  Hereditary  Diseases. 

Conservation  of  Life  and  Health  by  Improved  Water  Sup- 
ply.   Kober. 

Backward  Children  in  the  Public  Schools.    Davis. 

Dangers  to  Mine  Workers.  (Mitchell.)  Report  Governor's 
Conference. 

Tuberculosis  in  the  U.  S.    Census  Report  1908. 

Industrial  Accidents.     Bureau  of  Labor  Pamphlet,  1906. 

Factory  Sanitation  and  Labor  Protection,  Dept.  of  Labor, 
No.  44. 

How  Insects  Affect  Health  in  Rural  Districts.  Dept,  of 
Agriculture.    Bulletin  155. 

Public  Health  and  Water  Pollution,    Bulletin  93. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BEAUTY 

America  has  another  resource  that  differs  from 
all  the  others,  and  yet  is  no  less  valuable  to  us  as  a 
nation,  for  it  is  upon  natural  beauty  that  we  must 
depend  to  attract  visitors  and  settlers  from  other 
countries,  and  also  to  develop  love  of  country  in 
our  own  people,  and  to  arouse  in  them  all  the  higher 
sentiments  and  ideals. 

The  love  of  romance  and  poetry  is  awakened  only 
by  the  sight  of  beautiful  objects,  and  that  nation 
will  produce  the  highest  class  of  citizens  which 
has  most  within  it  to  kindle  these  lofty  ideas.  The 
savage  cares  only  for  the  comfort  of  his  body,  but 
as  civilization  advances,  man  devotes  more  and  more 
thought  to  those  pleasures  that  come  only  through 
his  mind  and  the  cultivation  of  his  tastes. 

The  United  States  is  particularly  fortunate  in 
this  respect,  for  here  is  everything  to  inspire  a  love 
of  beauty.  There  is  the  beauty  of  changing  seasons, 
of  our  wonderful  autumn  forest  coloring,  of  rivers, 
mountains,  lakes,  sea,  and  shore. 

In  addition  to  the  beauty  of  our  landscapes, 
302 


BEAUTY  303 

which  is  everywhere  to  be  found,  there  are  many 
special  beauties  which  are  among  the  world's  won- 
der-places, and  which  are  visited  yearly  by  thousands 
of  sight-seers,  and  each  year  they  attract  a  greater 
number  of  visitors  from  other  lands.  Some  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  these  are  Niagara  Falls,  the 
Yosemite  Valley,  with  its  crowning  glory,  the 
Yosemite  Falls,  the  Hetch-Hetchy  Falls,  Mammoth 
Cave,  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  the  Grand  Canon  of 
the  Colorado,  the  Agatized  Forests  of  Arizona, 
Yellowstone  Park,  The  Natural  Bridge  of  Virginia, 
Great  Salt  Lake,  and  dozens  of  others,  less  wonder- 
ful, but  scarcely  less  beautiful,  and  equal  to  the  most 
talked-of  beauties  of  Europe,  such  as  the  Palisades 
of  the  Hudson,  Lake  Champlain,  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  the  Dalles  of  Oregon,  Pike's  Peak,  Mount 
Rainier,  Lookout  Mountain,  the  Adirondacks,  and 
the  entire  Rocky  Mountain  region. 

To  these  must  be  added  the  relics  of  ancient  civili- 
zation, the  homes  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers,  the  work  of 
the  Mound  Builders,  and  such  fragments  as  still 
remain  of  the  occupation  in  various  times  and  places 
of  certain  Indian  tribes,  and  of  the  Norsemen  and 
the  Spaniards. 

All  these  are  to  be  valued  for  their  beauty  or 
historic  interest,  and  are  also  valuable  as  a  source  of 
wealth  to  the  community. 

The  money  spent  on  tourist-travel  in  Europe  is 


304  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

said  to  be  more  than  half  a  billion  dollars  a  year. 
This  vast  amount  is  spent  because  in  Europe  there 
is  so  much  to  delight  the  eye,  because  the  cities  are 
made  beautiful  with  artistic  buildings  filled  with 
art  treasures,  because  historic  places  are  carefully 
preserved,  because  the  villages  are  neat  and  well- 
kept,  and  the  intensive  farming  which  is  practised 
almost  everywhere  leaves  no  waste  places  to  grow  up 
with  weeds,  and  lie  neglected. 

There  are  parts  of  Europe,  of  course,  where  this 
is  not  true,  but  they  are  not  included  in  the  line  of 
tourist-travel,  and  in  general  it  may  be  said  that 
Europe  is  visited  almost  solely  because  of  its  beauty : 
—  the  natural  beauty  that  man  has  preserved,  the 
beauty  that  he  has  created,  or  the  relics  of  past 
greatness. 

Modern  Greece  would  attract  few  visitors  for  its 
own  sake.  It  is  the  ruins  of  a  mighty  past, —  the 
Acropolis  at  Athens  and  the  places  made  famous 
in  mythology  and  literature  draw  thousands  to  its 
shores  every  year,  and  add  greatly  to  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  of  the  country. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  America  wherever  we 
have  preserved  and  made  beautiful  our  natural 
scenery.  During  three  months  in  the  summer,  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad  derives  about  $200,000 
in  fares  from  its  Niagara  business  alone.  Since 
it  became  a  state  reservation  in  1885,  more  than 


BEAUTY  305 

seventeen  million  persons  have  visited  Niagara,  and 
the  amount  of  money  that  has  been  spent  there  at 
hotels,  for  carriages,  automobiles,  side-trips,  souve- 
nirs, etc.,  is  almost  beyond  calculation. 

In  the  Adirondack  Park  there  is  between  $10,- 
000,000  and  $15,000,000  invested  in  hotels  and  cot- 
tages. The  15,000  clerks  and  helpers  receive  about 
$1,000,000  in  wages,  the  railroads  receive  another 
$1,000,000  in  fares,  and  hotel  guests  spend  between 
$5,000,000  and  $6,000,000.  All  of  these  advan- 
tages to  the  region  are  entirely  apart  from  the  prac- 
tical uses  of  the  forest. 

These  are  examples  which  show  the  great  amount 
of  wealth  which  can  come  from  preserving  our 
natural  beauties,  and  the  same  conditions  exist 
everywhere,  not  only  in  the  state  and  national  parks, 
but  wherever  some  beautiful  spot  has  been  set  aside 
by  a  city,  a  railroad  company,  or  some  private  en- 
terprise. People  flock  to  these  resorts  in  large  num- 
bers for  rest  or  recreation,  and  to  satisfy  their  love 
for  the  beautiful,  and  the  result  is  a  gain  in  health 
and  morals,  more  desire  on  the  part  of  those  who 
visit  them  to  make  their  own  surroundings  beau- 
tiful, and  at  the  same  time  a  great  gain  in  money 
value  to  the  city  or  company  that  promotes  such  an 
enterprise. 

Most  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States 
have  given  particular  attention  to  the  subject  of 


3o6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

public  parks  during  recent  years.  They  are  the 
breathing  places  for  the  dwellers  in  the  city,  often 
the  only  place  where  children  can  have  fresh  air 
and  plenty  of  exercise,  and  the  parks  constitute  one 
of  the  greatest  attractions  to  draw  summer  visitors 
to  the  city. 

Nearly  all  steam  and  electric  railway  companies 
own  some  park  or  pleasure  resort  from  which  they 
derive  a  large  income  in  fares,  and  many  steamboat 
companies  find  their  largest  profit  from  their  excur- 
sion boats. 

All  these  facts  show  clearly  that  if  we  consider 
only  the  gain  in  money,  it  is  altogether  a  wise  policy 
to  include  natural  beauty  among  our  national  re- 
sources, and  to  conserve  it  carefully,  while  if  we 
look  at  it  from  the  larger  standpoint  of  preserving 
for  future  generations  the  same  beauties  that  we 
enjoy,  the  need  of  such  conservation  is  still  more 
urgent. 

In  our  future  development  the  United  States  will 
largely  be  made  over.  We  shall  no  longer  have  the 
same  natural  conditions  that  we  have  had  in  the 
early  years  of  our  history,  and  the  physical  appear- 
ance of  the  country  will  grow  better  or  worse  each 
generation. 

It  is  possible  for  us  to  make  America  the  most 
beautiful  land  the  world  has  ever  seen,  for  we  have 
the  natural  beauty,  and  greater  knowledge  in  setting 


BEAUTY  •  307 

about  the  work  of  building  than  has  ever  been  pos- 
sessed by  any  other  nation  during  its  time  of  greatest 
growth. 

We  shall  go  far  toward  realizing  our  ideal  of  a 
beautiful  America  if  we  understand  that  the  conser- 
vation of  our  resources  means  beauty,  and  that  waste 
means  ugliness.  Proper  conservation  of  our  min- 
eral resources  will  include  the  removal  of  the  ugly, 
unsightly  piles  of  culm,  slag,  and  other  refuse  that 
lie  about  the  mouth  of  the  mines,  and  disfigure  some 
of  our  most  beautiful  mountain  scenery,  for,  as  we 
have  shown  elsewhere,  this  should  be  used  and  not 
wasted.  The  proper  use  of  coal  would  solve  the 
smoke  problem  of  cities,  one  of  the  worst  foes  of 
cleanliness  and  beauty,  and  the  use  of  water-power- 
would  serve  the  same  purpose.  The  complete  utili- 
zation of  our  water  resources  that  has  been  sug- 
gested would  make  all  our  waterways  contribute 
greatly  to  the  beauty  and  attractiveness  of  the  land- 
scape. 

In  conserving  our  forests  we  not  only  increase  our 
timber  supply,  but  add  one  of  the  greatest  of  all 
beauties,  the  trees  which  give  variety  and  tone  to 
every  picture  that  our  eyes  rest  upon.  We  shall 
have  the  shady  roads,  the  long  green  hill-slopes,  the 
quiet  woodlands,  the  glory  of  autumn  coloring,  the 
delight  of  blossoming  orchards. 

Conservation  of  the  soil,  and  utilization  of  every 


3o8  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

part  of  the  land  mean  even  more.  Picture  the  con- 
trast between  a  country  where  the  hillsides  are  worn 
into  gullies,  where  rocks  are  everywhere  to  be  seen 
cropping  above  the  barren  soil,  where  the  crops  are 
scanty,  the  vegetation  stunted ;  and  one  where  every 
field  yields  a  rich  harvest,  where  the  grain  hangs 
heavy  and  golden,  where  every  wayside  nook  holds 
a  flower,  where  there  are  no  neglected  fence-corners, 
no  piles  of  rubbish, —  what  we  truly  call  "  a  smiling 
landscape."  Lastly,  in  conserving  health,  we  do 
more  toward  promoting  personal  beauty  and  advan- 
cing the  standard  of  the  race  than  in  any  other  way. 

We  should  not  be  content,  however,  with  the 
beauty  that  comes  only  from  the  conservation  of  our 
other  resources,  but  should  have  a  definite  plan  for 
the  conservation  of  beauty  as  a  valuable  resource  in 
itself. 

The  city  of  Washington  should  be  made  the 
center  of  this  movement  toward  national  beauty. 
There  is  now  an  organized  effort  on  the  part  of 
those  in  charge  of  the  erection  of  public  buildings, 
to  make  Washington  the  most  beautiful  capital  in 
the  world,  and  a  model  for  other  cities. 

The  federal  government  should  set  aside  as  na- 
tional parks  all  of  our  greatest  natural  wonders,  as 
Yellowstone  Park  is  now  held. 

The  states  should  follow  the  same  line  and  set 
apart  in  the  same  way  those  objects  of  lesser  inter- 


BEAUTY  309 

est,  either  natural  or  historic,  which  are  to  be  found 
in  every  state  —  those  that  are  not  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  merit  national  recognition,  but  that  will 
add  interest  to  the  state  as  a  place  for  tourists  to 
visit. 

Few  states  are  visited  in  this  way  more  than  is 
Massachusetts,  and  it  is  largely  because  not  only 
the  state,  but  the  various  communities  have  pre- 
served historical  places,  buildings  and  objects  so 
carefully,  have  erected  monuments  to  commemorate 
them;  and  have  thrown  these  various  objects  of  in- 
terest open  to  the  public  free  of  charge.  These 
communities  in  turn  have  gained  the  original  ex- 
penditure many  times  over  from  the  money  spent 
by  the  steady  stream  of  visitors. 

There  has  been  a  great  movement  toward  the 
beautifying  of  cities  and  villages  in  the  past  few 
years.  Besides  the  good  work  done  by  park  boards 
in  cities  there  has  been  a  great  improvement  in 
the  matter  of  cleaner  streets,  better  sidewalks,  the 
planting  of  more  shade  trees,  and  a  far  greater 
attention  to  the  beautifying  of  private  grounds. 
The  adorning  of  front  yards  and  porches  with  vines 
and  flowers  is  increasing  enormously  every  year. 

Many  causes  have  been  at  work  to  produce  this 
result:  the  broadening  influence  of  travel,  which 
brings  people  in  touch  with  what  is  being  done  in 
other  places  to  promote  public  beauty,  the  work  of 


310  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

schools,  newspaper  and  magazine  articles,  and  more 
time  and  money  to  spend  on  luxuries, —  even  the 
post-card,  which  makes  a  souvenir  view  of  every 
spot  of  local  beauty  or  interest;  but  probably  no 
other  one  agency  has  produced  such  good  results  in 
public  beauty  as  has  the  woman's  club  which  has 
taken  up  this  line  of  work. 

The  "  cleaning-up "  movement,  with  a  public 
house-cleaning  day  twice  a  year  when  all  refuse  is 
carted  away,  and  streets,  alleys  and  back-yards 
cleaned,  had  its  origin  in  this  way.  The  care  and 
beautifying  of  cemeteries  is  another  branch  of  the 
work. 

In  many  places,  flower  and  vegetable  seeds  are 
distributed  free  or  at  a  nominal  cost  among  the 
school  children,  prizes  are  offered  for  the  best  gar- 
den, the  largest  vegetables,  the  most  attractive  back- 
yard, the  best  arranged  flower-bed,  and  other  good 
results;  the  work  is  examined  by  a  committee,  and 
the  prizes  awarded  at  the  end  of  the  season  either 
by  the  club  or  by  merchants  who  have  become  inter- 
ested in  the  contest. 

This  provides  the  children  wholesome  outdoor 
work  and  exercise  throughout  the  summer,  and  pro- 
motes a  pleasant  rivalry  among  them,  besides  in- 
creasing their  knowledge  of  plants,  and  the  results 
have  been  found  to  be  far-reaching,  for  not  only  the 
pupils,  but  their  parents  as  well,  are  interested  in 


BEAUTY  311 

neater,  more  orderly  methods  of  living,  and  in  beau- 
tifying their  homes. 

In  the  movement  for  public  beauty,  as  in  all  other 
progress,  it  is  the  work  of  individuals  that  counts 
most.  Every  house  that  is  built  with  a  thought  for 
its  beauty,  every  home,  farm-building  and  fence 
kept  in  good  repair,  every  neat  back-yard  and 
flower-surrounded  home  has  its  part  in  making 
America  more  beautiful,  and  this  influence  in  count- 
less homes  is  certain  to  count  in  the  making  of  better 
citizens. 

A  country  where  beauty  meets  the  eye  at  every 
turn  will  invite  the  tourist  and  the  home-seeker, 
will  be  deeply  loved  by  its  own  people,  and  will  be 
an  inspiration  to  poetry  and  art.  It  rests  largely 
with  the  people  of  to-day  to  decide  whether  we 
shall  make  of  our  own  land  such  an  ideal  place. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

IN    CONCLUSION 

No  ONE  can  read  the  record  of  facts  presented 
in  this  book  without  being  impressed  by  two  things : 
( I )  How  these  resources  depend  on  one  another  and 
that  proper  care  of  one  results  in  the  saving  of  an- 
other, and,  (2)  the  fact  that  every  one  of  our  most 
valued  resources  is  decreasing  so  rapidly  that  its 
end  is  in  sight,  even  though  far  in  the  distance. 
When  the  end  comes  we  know  that  it  will  mean  the 
end  of  progress  for  our  country  in  that  direction. 

It  is  also  plain  that  the  great,  in  fact  the  only, 
reason  for  this  scarcity  lies  not  in  use  but  in  waste. 
And  lastly  we  see  that  there  is  yet  time  to  prevent 
serious  shortage  in  most  directions  if  we  set  about 
a  general  system  of  good  management  and  thrift. 

In  the  meantime  we  are  sure  to  have  higher  prices, 
for  the  supply  is  growing  less  and  the  demand 
greater  for  almost  every  material.  In  many  lines, 
unless  something  be  done  to  check  this  shortage, 
prices  will  rise  so  high  that  only  the  rich  can  afford 
what  are  now  considered  the  necessities  of  life,  and 
the  lives  of  the  poorer  classes  will  become  like  those 

312 


IN  CONCLUSION  313 

of  the  peasants  of  Europe :  —  a  scanty  living  on  the 
plainest  food,  poor  homes,  hard  work,  less  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  mind  and  body. 

Let  us  sum  up  how  the  various  resources  may  be 
used  to  conserve  one  another. 

The  soil  is  saved  from  erosion  by  the  planting  of 
forests,  and  by  the  storing  of  the  flood  waters  of 
rivers.  Waste  land  is  made  fertile  by  proper  con- 
trol of  the  rivers  through  drainage,  storage  and 
irrigation.  Farm  crops  and  also  the  forests  are  in- 
creased in  value  by  insect  control. 

The  insects  are  largely  kept  in  check  by  encour- 
aging the  nesting  and  increase  of  certain  birds. 
Birds  play  a  large  part  in  the  conservation  of  the 
crops,  by  destroying  insects,  weeds,  and  small  mam- 
mals. The  birds  themselves  are  sheltered  and  thrive 
only  where  trees  are  abundant. 

The  grazing  lands  are  conserved  by  proper  forest 
control,  and  the  supply  of  animal  food  depends 
largely  on  the: grazing  lands. 

Fisheries  are  dependent  on  proper  care  of.  the 
waterjs,  which  in  turn  depend  on  forest  control,  and 
on  proper  care  oi  the  by-products  of.  factories.. 

Coal  is  conserved  by  the  use  of.  lower-grade  fuels, 
by  using  waste  from  the  forests,  and  by  substituting 
water-power. 

Gas  and  oil  will  alsa.  be  saved  by  the  gf  eater  tise 
df  water-power. 


314  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

Coal-mining  is  made  safer  to  human  life  and 
much  saving  in  coal  is  effected  by  the  use  of  mine- 
timbers,  which  involves  the  planting  of  forests. 
Forests  regulate  to  a  great  extent  the  stream-flow  of 
rivers. 

Beauty  can  only  be  conserved  by  the  planting  of 
trees,  by  keeping  the  waters  pure  and  clear,  by  using 
waste  products  so  that  there  will  be  no  unsightly 
piles  of  refuse. 

Health  depends,  among  other  things,  on  pure  wa- 
ter, air  unpolluted  by  coal  smoke  and  poisonous 
gases  which  should  be  used  as  factory  by-products. 

And  lastly,  the  life,  happiness,  and  prosperity  of 
man  is  conserved  by  all  of  these  things. 

The  first  step  in  this  system  of  conservation  must 
be  education  on  this  subject,  education  not  only  of 
the  children  but  of  the  men  and  women  also,  on 
the  need  and  methods  of  saving.  There  would  be 
no  danger  of  a  scarcity  of  coal  if  manufacturers 
all  knew  the  value  and  economy  of  electric  water- 
power  or  low-grade  fuels,  and  of  smoke-consuming 
devices.  There  is  no  reason  why  insect  destruction 
should  cost  the  nation  so  dearly  if  the  birds  were 
protected,  and  a  few  simple  methods  of  prevention 
understood.  All  the  various  water  problems  could 
be  met  and  solved  if  one  general  plan  v^re  adopted 
and  carried  out,  and  so  all  along  the  linei 

We  have  taken  note  of  the  great  natural  wastes : 


IN  CONCLUSION  315 

how  two-thirds  of  the  wood  cut  Is  wasted,  and  how 
insects  and  fire  destroy  the  standing  timber;  how 
the  soil  is  washed  down  into  the  valleys,  taking  the 
best  from  the  farms;  how  we  are  steadily  robbing 
the  soil  of  its  most  necessary  elements ;  how  our  wa- 
ters are  unused  and  we  pay  for  this  non-use  by  the 
use  of  other  resources  that  we  can  ill  afford  to 
spare;  how  millions  of  acres  of  land  which  might 
be  profitably  farmed  lie  useless  for  lack  of  water 
and  other  millions  are  useless  because  they  are  cov- 
ered with  water.  Consumers  pay  high  freight 
rates  and  the  railroads  are  so  overcrowded  that  they 
are  unable  to  care  for  all  the  business,  while  the 
rivers,  the  cheapest  of  all  carriers,  flow  idly  to  the 
sea. 

We  have  seen  how  one- fourth  of  the  coal  is  left 
in  the  mines,  and  how  small  a  part  of  that  which  is 
mined  is  actually  turned  into  heat,  how  gas  is  al- 
lowed to  escape  unchecked  into  the  air.  And  great- 
est and  most  serious  of  all,  the  useless  waste  of  hu- 
man Hfe  and  health. 

But  there  are  scores  of  other  wastes  and  extrav- 
agances that  all  growing  boys  and  girls  should  think 
of,  so  that  when  they  enter  active  life,  they  may  do 
their  part  to  prevent  them. 

It  is  going  to  be  necessary  to  learn  to  economize 
in  every  dfep^artment  of  life  as  all  the  European 
pe'dfiles  Ho.     We  must  learn,  in  this  new  cbuntry, 


3i6  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

to  do  things  more  with  the  idea  of  the  future  in 
mind.  In  all  European  cities,  there  are  hundreds 
of  houses  that  have  lasted  many  centuries,  but  there 
are  few  houses  in  America  that  are  built  in  an 
enduring  way.  This  building  up  and  tearing  down 
taxes  not  one,  but  many,  resources  heavily.  As 
the  housewife  learns  that  a  good  kettle  that  costs  a 
dollar  and  lasts  five  years  is  cheaper  than  a  poor 
one  which  costs  fifty  cents  but  will  wear  out  in  one 
year,  so  people  must  learn  the  lesson  that  in  build- 
ing poor  light  houses  of  wood  which  will  last  a 
comparatively  short  time,  they  are  really  paying  the 
higher  price;  that  in  putting  in  poor  roads,  cheap 
bridges,  badly-constructed  public  buildings,  that 
cost  less  heavily  in  the  first  place  but  that  will  need 
to  be  renewed  in  a  few  years,  they  are  really  paying 
much  more  than  if  these  had  been  substantially  built 
in  the  beginning. 

The  fire  loss  of  the  United  States  amounts  to  over 
half  a  million  dollars  a  day,  and  all  insurance  men 
agree  that  most  of  this  might  be  prevented. 

The  remedies  are  to  build  fewer  wooden  houses, 
especially  in  crowded  districts,  to  exercise  greater 
care  in  the  building  and  management  of  chimneys, 
greater  care  in  electric  wiring,  and  general  watch- 
fulness in  handling  matches  and  lighted  cigars. 

For  the  forest  fires  which  mean  so  much  to  all 
of  us  thb  rem'^dy  lies  irl  fdrfest  patrol.    The  amdttnt 


IN  CONCLUSION  317 

usually  set  aside  fgr  fighting  fires  was  not  allowed 
by  some  states  in  1910,  and  the  fires  which  cost 
hundreds  of  millions  of  property  and  many  lives 
were  the  result. 

Much  of  the  most  fertile  land  in  our  country  is 
used  for  raising  tobacco,  and  grains  that  are  made 
into  alcoholic  liquors.  As  these  can  never  be  con- 
sidered necessities  it  is  well  to  think  to  what  better 
uses  the  land  might  be  put. 

The  yearly  bill  of  the  United  States  for  pleasure 
is  gigantic,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  pleasure 
tends  to  lower  rather  than  raise  the  standard  of 
American  life  and  morals. 

The  greatest  of  all  wastes  is  the  waste  of  time  and 
labor.  The  waste  of  time  by  drunkenness,  by  poor 
work  that  must  be  done  over,  and  by  idleness,  makes 
a  large  item  of  loss  in  every  line  of  business. 

Proper  education  will  teach  every  child  to  work 
neatly  and  with  perfect  accuracy,  will  teach  eye, 
hand  and  brain,  will  teach  the  value  and  pleasure  of 
work,  careful  management  and  economy  and  a  re- 
gard for  the  general  good. 

A  study  of  the  great  facts  of  our  national  possi- 
bilities that  have  been  gathered  together  in  this 
book  should  arouse  in  the  heart  of  every  American, 
old  and  young,  the  feeling  that  here  is  a  work  for 
every  hand  and  every  brain,  not  only  to  save,  but  to 
use  wisely;  to  develop  all  the  possibilities  of  our 


3i8  CHECKING  THE  WASTE 

great  resources  no  less  than  to  conserve  them.  In 
searching  for  new  by-products  or  machinery  for 
checking  the  waste  and  adding  to  the  usefulness  of 
these  resources  there  is  a  field  for  invention  that  will 
not  only  bring  wealth  to  the  inventor,  but  prosperity 
and  length  of  life  to  the  nation. 


mHJE  END 


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